Exam question 1 · Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks

Identify the principal deficiency of the hypothesis advanced by Lamarck in respect of the neck of the giraffe.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, advance, respect · To what, where: principal deficiency, hypothesis, neck

This is exam question 1 of lesson 278 «Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks» 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	4 deficiency	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 deficiency	amod
4	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 hypothesis	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hypothesis	det
7	hypothesis	hypothesis	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deficiency	nmod
8	advanced	advance	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 hypothesis	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 Lamarck	case
10	Lamarck	Lamarck	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 advanced	obl
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 respect	case
12	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 advanced	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 neck	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 neck	det
15	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 respect	nmod
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 giraffe	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 giraffe	det
18	giraffe	giraffe	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 neck	nmod
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal deficiency of the hypothesis		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent deficiency=Theme
2	advance	participle		the hypothesis not said here	by Lamarck; in respect of the neck of the giraffe	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute PP.extent PP.initial_state PP.result»: agent=Patient by lamarck=Extent in respect=Attribute
3	respect			the neck of the giraffe		nom respect «cognition 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 necks of giraffes possess no bones

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 necks	det
2	necks	neck	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 possess	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 giraffes	case
4	giraffes	giraffe	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 necks	nmod
5	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	7 bones	det
7	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 possess	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	the necks of giraffes	no bones					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot bone=Theme

Option 2

Giraffes do not consume foliage of any kind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Giraffes	giraffe	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consume	nsubj
2	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 consume	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 consume	advmod
4	consume	consume	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	foliage	foliage	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consume	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 kind	case
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	8 kind	det
8	kind	kind	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 foliage	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not consume	present · do-support	Giraffes	foliage of any kind					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent foliage=Asset

Option 3

Giraffes produce no offspring

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Giraffes	giraffe	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 produce	nsubj
2	produce	produce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 offspring	det
4	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 produce	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	present	Giraffes	no offspring					vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent offspring=Result

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Characteristics acquired during a lifetime are not transmitted through the DNA to offspring

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Characteristics	characteristic	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 acquired	nsubj
2	acquired	acquire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 transmitted	parataxis
3	during	during	ADP	_	5 lifetime	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 lifetime	det
5	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acquired	obl
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 transmitted	aux:pass
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 transmitted	advmod
8	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	through	through	ADP	_	11 DNA	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 DNA	det
11	DNA	DNA	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 transmitted	obl
12	to	to	ADP	_	13 offspring	case
13	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 DNA	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	acquire	past	Characteristics				during a lifetime		vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset
2	not transmit	present · passive				the DNA to offspring			vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»

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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