Exam question 2 · Not dinosaurs at all: pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs a…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the reproduction of plesiosaurs.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, established facts, plesiosaurs · What happens: select, establish, concern, reproduce · To what, where: response, reproduction

This is exam question 2 of lesson 270 «Not dinosaurs at all: pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs and Mary Anning» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 reproduction	det
11	reproduction	reproduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 plesiosaurs	case
13	plesiosaurs	plesiosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 reproduction	nmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the reproduction of plesiosaurs		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus reproduction=Experiencer
4	reproduce		plesiosaurs			nom reproduction «process intransitive»: of=agent

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1

They are understood to have laid eggs upon beaches, in the manner of turtles

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 understood	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 understood	aux:pass
3	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 have	mark
5	have	have	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 understood	xcomp
6	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 eggs	amod
7	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 have	obj
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 beaches	case
9	beaches	beach	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 have	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 manner	punct
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 manner	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 manner	det
13	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 have	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 turtles	case
15	turtles	turtle	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 manner	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	understand	present · passive	They			tree rules
2	have	to-infinitive	laid eggs	the manner of turtles	upon beaches	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Patient
3	lay	participle				vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Nothing whatever is known of their reproduction, as no young are preserved

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	4 known	nsubj:pass
2	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 known	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 known	aux:pass
4	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 reproduction	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 reproduction	nmod:poss
7	reproduction	reproduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 known	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 preserved	punct
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 preserved	mark
10	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	11 young	det
11	young	young	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 preserved	nsubj:pass
12	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 preserved	aux:pass
13	preserved	preserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 known	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	know	present · passive		Nothing	of their reproduction	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus
2	preserve	present · passive		no young		vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary
3	reproduce		their = they			nom reproduction «process intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Fossil evidence demonstrates that they gave birth to live young at sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fossil	fossil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 evidence	compound
2	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 demonstrates	nsubj
3	demonstrates	demonstrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 gave	mark
5	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 gave	nsubj
6	gave	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 demonstrates	ccomp
7	birth	birth	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gave	obj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 live	mark
9	live	live	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 young	advcl
10	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 gave	advcl
11	at	at	ADP	_	12 sea	case
12	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 gave	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	demonstrate	present	Fossil evidence						vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot clause=Topic
2	give	past	they	birth		sea			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent birth=Theme at sea=Asset

Option 4

They are understood to have laid eggs in nests constructed in trees

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 understood	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 understood	aux:pass
3	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 have	mark
5	have	have	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 understood	xcomp
6	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 eggs	amod
7	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 have	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 nests	case
9	nests	nest	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 have	obl
10	constructed	construct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 nests	acl
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 trees	case
12	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 constructed	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	roles by
1	understand	present · passive	They		tree rules
2	have	to-infinitive	laid eggs	nests	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Patient
3	lay	participle			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	construct	participle	nests not said here		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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