Exam question 4 · Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpers of our food

Ascertain the role of the ladybird in agriculture.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain · To what, where: role

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 role	det
3	role	role	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 ladybird	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 ladybird	det
6	ladybird	ladybird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 role	nmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 agriculture	case
8	agriculture	agriculture	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 ladybird	nmod
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the role of the ladybird in agriculture					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent role=Topic

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

It consumes stored grain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 consumes	nsubj
2	consumes	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	stored	store	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 grain	amod
4	grain	grain	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consumes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present	It	stored grain					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grain=Asset
2	store	participle							vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It consumes aphids and thereby serves as a natural means of pest control

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 consumes	nsubj
2	consumes	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	aphids	aphid	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 consumes	obj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 serves	cc
5	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	6 serves	advmod
6	serves	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 consumes	conj
7	as	as	SCONJ	_	10 means	mark
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 natural	det
9	natural	natural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 means	nsubj
10	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 serves	ccomp
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 control	case
12	pest	pest	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 control	compound
13	control	control	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	consume	present	It	aphids		vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent aphid=Asset
2	serve	present			thereby property	tree rules
3	mean	present	a natural		of pest control	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It pollinates cereal crops and is therefore indispensable to the harvest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 pollinates	nsubj
2	pollinates	pollinate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	cereal	cereal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 crops	compound
4	crops	crop	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 pollinates	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 indispensable	cc
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 indispensable	cop
7	therefore	therefore	ADV	_	8 indispensable	advmod
8	indispensable	indispensable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 pollinates	conj
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 harvest	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 harvest	det
11	harvest	harvest	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 indispensable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pollinate	present	It	cereal crops					tree rules
2	is	present						to the harvest; indispensable, therefore property	tree rules

Option 4

It enriches the soil with its casts in the manner of the earthworm

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 enriches	nsubj
2	enriches	enrich	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 soil	det
4	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 enriches	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 casts	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 casts	nmod:poss
7	casts	cast	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 enriches	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 manner	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 manner	det
10	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 enriches	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 earthworm	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 earthworm	det
13	earthworm	earthworm	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 manner	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enrich	present	It	the soil		the manner of the earthworm		with soil's casts	vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme soil=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.

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