Exam question 2 · The future of life: de-extinction, climate, coral and froz…

Identify the principal cause of the phenomenon designated coral bleaching.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, principal cause · What happens: identify, designate, cause · To what, where: coral bleaching, phenomenon

This is exam question 2 of lesson 297 «The future of life: de-extinction, climate, coral and frozen zoos» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 cause	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cause	amod
4	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 designated	nsubj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 phenomenon	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 phenomenon	det
7	phenomenon	phenomenon	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cause	nmod
8	designated	designate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	parataxis
9	coral	coral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 bleaching	amod
10	bleaching	bleaching	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 designated	obj
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here		vn empathize-88.2 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
2	designate	past	the principal cause of the phenomenon	coral bleaching	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bleaching=Theme
3	cause			the phenomenon	nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient

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

The action of strong sunlight upon the pigment of the coral, which fades it

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 action	det
2	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 fades	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 sunlight	case
4	strong	strong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 sunlight	amod
5	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 action	nmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 pigment	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 pigment	det
8	pigment	pigment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 action	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 coral	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 coral	det
11	coral	coral	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 pigment	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 fades	punct
13	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 fades	nsubj
14	fades	fade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	14 fades	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fade	present	the action of strong sunlight upon the pigment of the coral	coral					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient
2	act		strong sunlight					upon the pigment of the coral	nom action «act intransitive»: of=agent upon=obl

Option 2

The deposition of salt upon the surface of the reef

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 deposition	det
2	deposition	deposition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 salt	case
4	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deposition	nmod
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 surface	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 surface	det
7	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deposition	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 reef	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 reef	det
10	reef	reef	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 surface	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	depose		salt					upon the surface of the reef	nom deposition «process intransitive»: of=agent upon=obl

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The expulsion of symbiotic algae by corals in water of excessive temperature

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 expulsion	det
2	expulsion	expulsion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 algae	case
4	symbiotic	symbiotic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 algae	amod
5	algae	alga	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 expulsion	nmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 corals	case
7	corals	coral	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 expulsion	nmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 water	case
9	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 corals	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 temperature	case
11	excessive	excessive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 temperature	amod
12	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 water	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expel		corals in water of excessive temperature	symbiotic algae					nom expulsion «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent

Option 4

The consumption of coral pigment by fish

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 consumption	det
2	consumption	consumption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 pigment	case
4	coral	coral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 pigment	amod
5	pigment	pigment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consumption	nmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 fish	case
7	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consumption	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume		fish	coral pigment					nom consumption «act transitive»: of=patient by=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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