Exam question 1 · Megalodon and the giants of the sea, past and present

Identify the evidence that most strongly indicates the extinction of megalodon.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, most · What happens: identify, indicate, extinguish · To what, where: evidence, extinction, megalodon

This is exam question 1 of lesson 273 «Megalodon and the giants of the sea, past and present» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 evidence	det
3	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 indicates	mark
5	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 indicates	nsubj
6	strongly	strongly	ADV	_	5 most	advmod
7	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 extinction	det
9	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 indicates	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 megalodon	case
11	megalodon	megalodon	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 extinction	nmod
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the evidence	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent evidence=Theme
2	indicate	present	most	the extinction of megalodon	vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot extinction=Topic
3	extinguish			megalodon	nom extinction «state transitive»: of=patient

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 discovery of the final individual, stranded upon a beach in 1900

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 discovery	det
2	discovery	discovery	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 stranded	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 individual	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 individual	det
5	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 individual	amod
6	individual	individual	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 discovery	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 stranded	punct
8	stranded	strand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 beach	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 beach	det
11	beach	beach	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 stranded	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 1900	case
13	1900	1900	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	8 stranded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strand	participle	the discovery of the final individual			1900		upon a beach	tree rules
2	discover			the final individual					nom discovery «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The testimony of a cinematic production

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 testimony	det
2	testimony	testimony	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 production	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 production	det
5	cinematic	cinematic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 production	amod
6	production	production	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 testimony	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	testify		a cinematic production						nom testimony «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

A decree issued by a scientific society declaring the species to be extinct

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 decree	det
2	decree	decree	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 declaring	nsubj
3	issued	issue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 decree	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 society	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 society	det
6	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 society	amod
7	society	society	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 issued	obl:agent
8	declaring	declare	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 species	det
10	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 declaring	obj
11	to	to	PART	_	13 extinct	mark
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 extinct	cop
13	extinct	extinct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 declaring	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	issue	participle		a decree not said here		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	declare speech: other	gerund	a decree	the species		vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent species=Attribute
3	is	to-infinitive	a decree not said here		extinct property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The absence of recent teeth, bitten whale remains and reliable sightings

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 absence	det
2	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 teeth	case
4	recent	recent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 teeth	amod
5	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 absence	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 remains	punct
7	bitten	bite	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 remains	amod
8	whale	whale	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 remains	compound
9	remains	remains	NOUN	Number=Ptan	5 teeth	conj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 sightings	cc
11	reliable	reliable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 sightings	amod
12	sightings	sighting	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 teeth	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bite	participle							vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent
2	absent			recent teeth and bitten whale remains and reliable sightings					nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

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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