Exam question 3 · Mammoths and the Ice Age giants: sabre-tooths, ground slot…

Ascertain the reason for which the La Brea tar pits contain a disproportionate number of carnivores.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, La tar pits · What happens: ascertain, contain · To what, where: reason, disproportionate number

This is exam question 3 of lesson 272 «Mammoths and the Ice Age giants: sabre-tooths, ground sloths and woolly rhinos» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 contain	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 pits	det
7	La	La	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 pits	compound
8	Brea	Brea	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 La	flat
9	tar	tar	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 pits	compound
10	pits	pit	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 contain	nsubj
11	contain	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl:relcl
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 number	det
13	disproportionate	disproportionate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 number	amod
14	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 contain	obj
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 carnivores	case
16	carnivores	carnivore	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 number	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	contain	present	the La tar pits	a disproportionate number of carnivores				for the reason	vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot number=Theme

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 · ✓ the right answer

Predators attracted to trapped animals became trapped in turn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Predators	predator	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 attracted	nsubj
2	attracted	attract	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 animals	case
4	trapped	trap	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 animals	amod
5	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 attracted	obl
6	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 attracted	conj
7	trapped	trap	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 attracted	advcl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 turn	case
9	turn	turn	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 trapped	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	attract	past	Predators		to trapped animals result	vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent to animal=Result
2	trap	participle				vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	become	past	Predators not said here			vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
4	trap	participle	Predators not said here	turn		vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in turn=Destination

Option 2

Herbivore bones dissolve completely in tar

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Herbivore	herbivore	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 bones	compound
2	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 dissolve	nsubj
3	dissolve	dissolve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	completely	completely	ADV	_	3 dissolve	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 tar	case
6	tar	tar	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dissolve	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dissolve	present	Herbivore bones			tar		completely property	vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

Herbivores were incapable of reaching the site owing to the surrounding cliffs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Herbivores	herbivore	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 incapable	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 reaching	mark
5	reaching	reach	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 incapable	acl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 site	det
7	site	site	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 reaching	obj
8	owing	owe	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 reaching	advcl
9	to	to	ADP	_	12 cliffs	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 cliffs	det
11	surrounding	surrounding	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 cliffs	compound
12	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 owing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	past	Herbivores	incapable		tree rules
2	reach	gerund	incapable not said here	the site		vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent site=Theme
3	owe	gerund	incapable not said here		to the surrounding cliffs goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to cliff=Goal

Option 4

The tar was preferred by carnivores as drinking water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tar	det
2	tar	tar	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 preferred	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 preferred	aux:pass
4	preferred	prefer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 carnivores	case
6	carnivores	carnivore	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 preferred	obl
7	as	as	ADP	_	9 water	case
8	drinking	drink	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 water	amod
9	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 preferred	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prefer	past · passive	carnivores	the tar				as drinking water	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus
2	drink	gerund							vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/272-mammoths-and-the-ice-age-giants/e3/