Exam question 3 · DNA simply: the recipe in every cell

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the majority of mutations?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: majority

This is exam question 3 of lesson 277 «DNA simply: the recipe in every cell» 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 majority	det
10	majority	majority	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 mutations	case
12	mutations	mutation	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 majority	nmod
13	?	?	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 majority of mutations				of the following statements; 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 · ← Mova's choice

They occur exclusively in plants

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 occur	nsubj
2	occur	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 occur	advmod
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 plants	case
5	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 occur	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present	They			plants		exclusively property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in plant=Location

Option 2

They invariably confer extraordinary abilities

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 confer	nsubj
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	3 confer	advmod
3	confer	confer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	extraordinary	extraordinary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 abilities	amod
5	abilities	ability	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 confer	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confer	present	They	extraordinary abilities				invariably property	tree rules

Option 3

They invariably prove fatal

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 prove	nsubj
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	3 prove	advmod
3	prove	prove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	fatal	fatal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 prove	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prove	present	They					fatal, invariably property	vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They exert no observable effect upon the organism

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 exert	nsubj
2	exert	exert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 effect	det
4	observable	observable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 effect	amod
5	effect	effect	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exert	obj
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 organism	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 organism	det
8	organism	organism	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 effect	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exert	present	They	no observable effect				upon the organism	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=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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