Exam question 1 · How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the lon…

Identify the principle by which the relative ages of sedimentary rock layers are ordinarily determined.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, relative ages · What happens: identify, be · To what, where: principle

This is exam question 1 of lesson 276 «How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the long story of life» 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 principle	det
3	principle	principle	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 determined	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 ages	det
7	relative	relative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 ages	amod
8	ages	age	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 determined	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 layers	case
10	sedimentary	sedimentary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 layers	amod
11	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 layers	compound
12	layers	layer	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 ages	nmod
13	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 determined	cop
14	ordinarily	ordinarily	ADV	_	15 determined	advmod
15	determined	determined	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Identify	parataxis
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principle					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent principle=Theme
2	is	present	the relative ages of sedimentary rock layers					determined, ordinarily 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

The thickest layer is always the oldest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 layer	det
2	thickest	thick	ADJ	Degree=Sup	3 layer	amod
3	layer	layer	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 oldest	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 oldest	cop
5	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	7 oldest	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 oldest	det
7	oldest	old	ADJ	Degree=Sup	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the thickest layer					always, old property	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Layers situated lower in a sequence are generally older than those above them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Layers	layer	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 situated	nsubj
2	situated	situate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	lower	low	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 situated	xcomp
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 sequence	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 sequence	det
6	sequence	sequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 situated	obl
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 older	cop
8	generally	generally	ADV	_	9 older	advmod
9	older	old	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 situated	conj
10	than	than	ADP	_	11 those	case
11	those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	9 older	obl
12	above	above	ADP	_	13 them	case
13	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 those	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	situate	past	Layers			a sequence		low property	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in sequence=Destination
2	is	present	Layers not said here					than those; generally, old property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

The age of a layer is determined by its colour alone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 age	det
2	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 determined	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 layer	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 layer	det
5	layer	layer	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 age	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 determined	aux:pass
7	determined	determine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 colour	case
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 colour	nmod:poss
10	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 determined	obl
11	alone	alone	ADV	_	7 determined	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	present · passive	age's colour	the age of a layer				alone property	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic

Option 4

Layers situated higher in a sequence are invariably older than those beneath them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Layers	layer	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 situated	nsubj
2	situated	situate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	higher	high	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 situated	xcomp
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 sequence	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 sequence	det
6	sequence	sequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 situated	obl
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 older	cop
8	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	9 older	advmod
9	older	old	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 situated	conj
10	than	than	ADP	_	11 those	case
11	those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	9 older	obl
12	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	13 them	case
13	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	situate	past	Layers			a sequence		beneath them = they; high property	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in sequence=Destination
2	is	present	Layers not said here					than those; invariably, old property	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/276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life/e1/