Exam question 2 · The asteroid: the day the dinosaurs died and who survived

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the significance of iridium in the boundary clay.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, significance

This is exam question 2 of lesson 271 «The asteroid: the day the dinosaurs died and who survived» 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 significance	det
11	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 iridium	case
13	iridium	iridium	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 significance	nmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	17 clay	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 clay	det
16	boundary	boundary	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 clay	compound
17	clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 iridium	nmod
18	.	.	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 significance of iridium in the boundary clay		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus significance=Experiencer

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 · ← Mova's choice

It demonstrates that the dinosaurs perished by a disease which left this metal within their bones and the soil

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 demonstrates	nsubj
2	demonstrates	demonstrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 perished	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dinosaurs	det
5	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 perished	nsubj:pass
6	perished	perish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 demonstrates	ccomp
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 disease	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 disease	det
9	disease	disease	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 perished	obl
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 left	nsubj
11	left	leave	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 disease	acl:relcl
12	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	13 metal	det
13	metal	metal	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 left	obj
14	within	within	ADP	_	16 bones	case
15	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 bones	nmod:poss
16	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 left	obl
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 soil	cc
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 soil	det
19	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 disease	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	demonstrate	present	It			vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot clause=Topic
2	perish	participle · passive	a disease and the soil	the dinosaurs		tree rules
3	leave	past	a disease and the soil	this metal	within dinosaurs's bones	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent metal=Theme

Option 2

It is a substance found exclusively within volcanoes and therefore proves a volcanic cause of extinction

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 substance	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 substance	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 substance	det
4	substance	substance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	found	find	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 substance	acl
6	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	5 found	advmod
7	within	within	ADP	_	8 volcanoes	case
8	volcanoes	volcano	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 found	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 proves	cc
10	therefore	therefore	ADV	_	11 proves	advmod
11	proves	prove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 substance	conj
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 cause	det
13	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 cause	amod
14	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 proves	obj
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 extinction	case
16	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 cause	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a substance		tree rules
2	find	participle		a substance not said here	within volcanoes; exclusively property	vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent
3	prove	present		a volcanic cause of extinction	therefore property	vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Theme
4	cause			extinction		nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

It was deposited by the dinosaurs themselves over many millions of years before their final extinction

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 deposited	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 deposited	aux:pass
3	deposited	deposit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 dinosaurs	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 dinosaurs	det
6	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 deposited	obl
7	themselves	themselves	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	3 deposited	obl
8	over	over	ADP	_	10 millions	case
9	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 millions	amod
10	millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 deposited	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 years	case
12	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 millions	nmod
13	before	before	ADP	_	16 extinction	case
14	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 extinction	nmod:poss
15	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 extinction	amod
16	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 deposited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deposit	past · passive	the dinosaurs	It		many millions of years	before millions's final extinction	dinosaurs = dinosaur obl	vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent subject=Theme over million=Destination
2	extinguish		millions = million						nom extinction «state transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Its abundance indicates an extraterrestrial origin, the element being rare on Earth but common in asteroids

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 abundance	nmod:poss
2	abundance	abundance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 indicates	nsubj
3	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 origin	det
5	extraterrestrial	extraterrestrial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 origin	amod
6	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 indicates	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 rare	punct
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 element	det
9	element	element	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 rare	nsubj
10	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 rare	cop
11	rare	rare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 indicates	parataxis
12	on	on	ADP	_	13 Earth	case
13	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 rare	obl
14	but	but	CCONJ	_	15 common	cc
15	common	common	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 rare	conj
16	in	in	ADP	_	17 asteroids	case
17	asteroids	asteroid	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 common	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	Its abundance	a extraterrestrial origin			vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot origin=Topic
2	is	gerund	the element		Earth	rare property	tree rules
3	be		the element not said here		asteroids		tree rules

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/271-the-asteroid-the-day-the-dinosaurs-died/e2/