Exam question 3 · Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises artificial selection?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: artificial selection

This is exam question 3 of lesson 279 «Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and tuskless elephants» 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	artificial	artificial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 selection	amod
10	selection	selection	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	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		artificial selection				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

The elimination of organisms by natural catastrophes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 elimination	det
2	elimination	elimination	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 organisms	case
4	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 elimination	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 catastrophes	case
6	natural	natural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 catastrophes	amod
7	catastrophes	catastrophe	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 elimination	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	eliminate		natural catastrophes	organisms					nom elimination «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent

Option 2

The choice by animals of their own diet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 choice	det
2	choice	choice	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	by	by	ADP	_	4 animals	case
4	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 choice	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 diet	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 diet	nmod:poss
7	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 diet	amod
8	diet	diet	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 animals	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The deliberate choice by people of which organisms shall reproduce

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 choice	det
2	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 choice	amod
3	choice	choice	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 reproduce	nsubj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 people	case
5	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 choice	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	8 organisms	det
8	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 people	conj
9	shall	shall	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 reproduce	aux
10	reproduce	reproduce	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reproduce	shall	the deliberate choice by people and which organisms						vn birth-28.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The spontaneous change of organisms by their own will

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 change	det
2	spontaneous	spontaneous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 change	amod
3	change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 will	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 organisms	case
5	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 change	nmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 own	case
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 own	nmod:poss
8	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 change	nmod
9	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change		organisms						nom change «event 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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