Exam question 3 · Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpers of our food

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Dust Bowl of the 1930s?

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

This is exam question 3 of lesson 291 «Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpers of our food» 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	11 Bowl	det
10	Dust	Dust	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Bowl	compound
11	Bowl	Bowl	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 1930s	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 1930s	det
14	1930s	1930	NOUN	Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card	11 Bowl	nmod
15	?	?	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 Dust Bowl of the 1930s				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

A volcanic eruption in the western United States

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 eruption	det
2	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 eruption	amod
3	eruption	eruption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	8 States	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 States	det
6	western	western	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 States	amod
7	United	United	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 States	amod
8	States	State	PROPN	Number=Plur	3 eruption	nmod

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

Option 2

A period of abundant harvests upon the American prairies, owing to deep and frequent ploughing

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 period	det
2	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 harvests	case
4	abundant	abundant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 harvests	amod
5	harvests	harvest	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 period	nmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 prairies	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 prairies	det
8	American	American	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 prairies	amod
9	prairies	prairie	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 harvests	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 owing	punct
11	owing	owe	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 period	acl
12	to	to	ADP	_	16 ploughing	case
13	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 ploughing	amod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 frequent	cc
15	frequent	frequent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 deep	conj
16	ploughing	ploughing	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 owing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	owe	gerund	a period of abundant harvests upon the American prairies not said here					to deep ploughing goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to ploughing=Goal

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The erosion by wind of dried, ploughed prairie soil, resulting in the loss of many farms

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 erosion	det
2	erosion	erosion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	by	by	ADP	_	4 wind	case
4	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 erosion	nmod
5	of	of	SCONJ	_	6 dried	mark
6	dried	dry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 wind	acl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 soil	punct
8	ploughed	plough	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 soil	amod
9	prairie	prairie	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 soil	compound
10	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 erosion	conj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 resulting	punct
12	resulting	result	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 erosion	acl
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 loss	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 loss	det
15	loss	loss	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 resulting	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 farms	case
17	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 farms	amod
18	farms	farm	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 loss	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	dry	participle		wind not said here		vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	plough	participle				vn wipe_instr-10.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
3	result	gerund	the erosion by wind and ploughed prairie soil not said here		the loss of many farms	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in loss=Location
4	erode		wind			nom erosion «process transitive»: by=agent

Option 4

A flood which deposited great quantities of dust upon the plains

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 flood	det
2	flood	flood	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deposited	nsubj
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 deposited	nsubj
4	deposited	deposit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 quantities	amod
6	quantities	quantity	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 deposited	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 dust	case
8	dust	dust	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 quantities	nmod
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 plains	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 plains	det
11	plains	plain	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 deposited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deposit	past	a flood	great quantities of dust		the plains			vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent quantity=Theme upon plain=Destination

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/291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food/e3/