Exam question 3 · Evolution: why giraffes really have long necks
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the purpose or goal of evolution.
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, purpose
This is exam question 3 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 | 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 purpose | det |
| 11 | purpose | purpose | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 concerning | obj |
| 12 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 13 goal | cc |
| 13 | goal | goal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 purpose | conj |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 evolution | case |
| 15 | evolution | evolution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 goal | nmod |
| 16 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Select | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | 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 purpose or goal of evolution | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus purpose=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
Evolution is directed towards flight in all creatures
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evolution | evolution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 directed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 directed | aux:pass |
| 3 | directed | direct | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | towards | towards | ADP | _ | 5 flight | case |
| 5 | flight | flight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 directed | obl |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 creatures | case |
| 7 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 8 creatures | det |
| 8 | creatures | creature | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 directed | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | direct | present · passive | Evolution | all creatures | towards flight | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.predicate»: subject=Theme in creature=Eventuality |
Option 2
Evolution is directed towards ever greater size
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evolution | evolution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 directed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 directed | aux:pass |
| 3 | directed | direct | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | towards | towards | ADP | _ | 7 size | case |
| 5 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 6 greater | advmod |
| 6 | greater | great | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 7 size | amod |
| 7 | size | size | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 directed | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | direct | present · passive | Evolution | towards greater size | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: subject=Eventuality |
Option 3
Evolution is directed towards the production of humans
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evolution | evolution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 directed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 directed | aux:pass |
| 3 | directed | direct | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | towards | towards | ADP | _ | 6 production | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 production | det |
| 6 | production | production | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 directed | obl |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 humans | case |
| 8 | humans | human | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 production | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | direct | present · passive | Evolution | towards the production of humans | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: subject=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | produce | humans | nom production «act transitive»: of=patient |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Evolution possesses no purpose or goal whatsoever
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evolution | evolution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 possesses | nsubj |
| 2 | possesses | possess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 4 purpose | det |
| 4 | purpose | purpose | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 possesses | obj |
| 5 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 6 goal | cc |
| 6 | goal | goal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 purpose | conj |
| 7 | whatsoever | whatsoever | ADV | _ | 2 possesses | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | possess | present | Evolution | no purpose or goal | whatsoever property | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot purpose=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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