Exam question 3 · Fossils: how a living thing turns to stone and how we dig…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the collection of fossils from coastal cliffs.

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, collection

This is exam question 3 of lesson 275 «Fossils: how a living thing turns to stone and how we dig it up» 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 collection	det
11	collection	collection	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 fossils	case
13	fossils	fossil	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 collection	nmod
14	from	from	ADP	_	16 cliffs	case
15	coastal	coastal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 cliffs	amod
16	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 fossils	nmod
17	.	.	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 collection of fossils from coastal cliffs		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus collection=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

Excavation of cliffs is universally encouraged by authorities

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Excavation	excavation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 encouraged	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 cliffs	case
3	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Excavation	nmod
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 encouraged	aux:pass
5	universally	universally	ADV	_	6 encouraged	advmod
6	encouraged	encourage	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 authorities	case
8	authorities	authority	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 encouraged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	encourage	present · passive	authorities	Excavation of cliffs				universally property	vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	excavate		cliffs						nom excavation «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

All fossils upon beaches are the property of the finder without exception

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 fossils	det
2	fossils	fossil	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 property	nsubj
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	4 beaches	case
4	beaches	beach	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 fossils	nmod
5	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 property	cop
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 property	det
7	property	property	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 finder	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 finder	det
10	finder	finder	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 property	nmod
11	without	without	ADP	_	12 exception	case
12	exception	exception	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 finder	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	all fossils upon beaches	the property				of the finder without exception	tree rules

Option 3

Fossils may lawfully be removed only by persons under ten years of age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fossils	fossil	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 removed	nsubj:pass
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 removed	aux
3	lawfully	lawfully	ADV	_	5 removed	advmod
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 removed	aux:pass
5	removed	remove	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	only	only	ADV	_	5 removed	advmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 persons	case
8	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 removed	obl
9	under	under	ADP	_	11 years	case
10	ten	ten	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 years	nummod
11	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 removed	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 age	case
13	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 years	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remove	may · passive	persons	Fossils			year	lawfully property	vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Excavation of cliffs is hazardous and frequently prohibited, whereas loose specimens may in many places be collected

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Excavation	excavation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hazardous	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 cliffs	case
3	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Excavation	nmod
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 hazardous	cop
5	hazardous	hazardous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 prohibited	cc
7	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	8 prohibited	advmod
8	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 hazardous	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 specimens	punct
10	whereas	whereas	ADV	_	12 specimens	advmod
11	loose	loose	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 specimens	amod
12	specimens	specimen	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 collected	nsubj:pass
13	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	18 collected	aux
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 places	case
15	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 places	amod
16	places	place	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 collected	obl
17	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	18 collected	aux:pass
18	collected	collect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 hazardous	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	present	Excavation of cliffs			hazardous property	tree rules
2	prohibit	participle	Excavation of cliffs not said here			frequently property	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Causer
3	collect	may · passive		loose specimens	many places		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
4	excavate		cliffs				nom excavation «act intransitive»: of=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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