Exam question 4 · Evolution myths put right: monkeys, the strongest and miss…

State which of the following constitutes an example of continuing human evolution.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: State, example · What happens: follow, constitute, continue · To what, where: example, human evolution

This is exam question 4 of lesson 280 «Evolution myths put right: monkeys, the strongest and missing links» 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	State	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 constitutes	nsubj
2	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 following	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 following	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 following	det
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 State	acl
6	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 example	det
8	example	example	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 constitutes	obj
9	of	of	SCONJ	_	10 continuing	mark
10	continuing	continue	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 example	acl
11	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 evolution	amod
12	evolution	evolution	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 continuing	obj
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 constitutes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	follow	gerund	State		vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	constitute	present	State	a example	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme example=Pivot
3	continue	gerund	a example not said here	human evolution	vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent evolution=Theme

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 right answer

The spread of the capacity to digest milk in adulthood

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 spread	det
2	spread	spread	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 capacity	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 capacity	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 capacity	det
5	capacity	capacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 digest	mark
7	digest	digest	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 capacity	acl
8	milk	milk	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 digest	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 adulthood	case
10	adulthood	adulthood	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 digest	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	digest	to-infinitive		milk		adulthood			tree rules

Option 2

The increase in height of a child as it grows

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 increase	det
2	increase	increase	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 grows	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 height	case
4	height	height	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increase	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 child	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 child	det
7	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 height	nmod
8	as	as	ADP	_	9 it	case
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 increase	nmod
10	grows	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grow	present	the increase in height of a child as child						vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

The learning of a second language

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 learning	det
2	learning	learning	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 language	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 language	det
5	second	second	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 language	amod
6	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 learning	nmod

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

Option 4

The growth of muscle through exercise in one lifetime

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 growth	det
2	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 muscle	case
4	muscle	muscle	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 growth	nmod
5	through	through	ADP	_	6 exercise	case
6	exercise	exercise	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 growth	nmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 lifetime	case
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 lifetime	nummod
9	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 growth	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grow		muscle			exercise			nom growth «process intransitive»: of=agent through=place

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/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/e4/