Exam question 4 · The asteroid: the day the dinosaurs died and who survived

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the consequence of the extinction for the mammals?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: consequence

This is exam question 4 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 consequence	det
10	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 extinction	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 extinction	det
13	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 consequence	nmod
14	for	for	ADP	_	16 mammals	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 mammals	det
16	mammals	mammal	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 consequence	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the consequence of the extinction				of the following statements; for the mammals; accurately property	tree rules

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 perished in their entirety alongside the dinosaurs, leaving no descendants whatever

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	2 perished	nsubj
2	perished	perish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	5 entirety	case
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 entirety	nmod:poss
5	entirety	entirety	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 perished	obl
6	alongside	alongside	ADP	_	8 dinosaurs	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 dinosaurs	det
8	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 perished	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 leaving	punct
10	leaving	leave	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 perished	advcl
11	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	12 descendants	det
12	descendants	descendant	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 leaving	obj
13	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 leaving	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perish	past	They			their entirety		alongside the dinosaurs	vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	leave	gerund	They not said here	no descendants					vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent descendant=Theme whatever=Attribute

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

They became the ancestors of the birds by developing feathers

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	2 became	nsubj
2	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 ancestors	det
4	ancestors	ancestor	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 became	xcomp
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 birds	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 birds	det
7	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 ancestors	nmod
8	by	by	SCONJ	_	9 developing	mark
9	developing	develop	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 became	advcl
10	feathers	feather	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 developing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	past	They	the ancestors of the birds					vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	develop	gerund	They not said here	feathers					vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feather=Product

Option 3

They were reduced permanently to a minute size and never again exceeded that of a mouse

The tree, 16 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 reduced	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 reduced	aux:pass
3	reduced	reduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	permanently	permanently	ADV	_	3 reduced	advmod
5	to	to	ADP	_	8 size	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 size	det
7	minute	minute	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 size	compound
8	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reduced	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 exceeded	cc
10	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	12 exceeded	advmod
11	again	again	ADV	_	12 exceeded	advmod
12	exceeded	exceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 reduced	conj
13	that	that	SCONJ	_	16 mouse	mark
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 mouse	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 mouse	det
16	mouse	mouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 exceeded	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reduce	past · passive		They				to a minute size goal; permanently property	vn limit-76 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Patient to size=Goal
2	not exceed	past					again		vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They diversified and attained a great range of sizes within a few million years

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	2 diversified	nsubj
2	diversified	diversify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 attained	cc
4	attained	attain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 diversified	conj
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 range	det
6	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 range	amod
7	range	range	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 attained	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 sizes	case
9	sizes	size	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 range	nmod
10	within	within	ADP	_	14 years	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 years	det
12	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 years	amod
13	million	million	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	14 years	nummod
14	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 attained	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	diversify	past	They						vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	attain	past	They not said here	a great range of sizes			year		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent range=Theme

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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