Exam question 1 · The big biology quiz, part 3: dinosaurs, evolution, conser…

Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, cause, extinguish · To what, where: principal cause, extinction, non-avian dinosaurs

This is exam question 1 of lesson 300 «The big biology quiz, part 3: dinosaurs, evolution, conservation and 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	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	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 extinction	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 extinction	det
7	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cause	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 dinosaurs	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 dinosaurs	det
10	non-avian	non-avian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 dinosaurs	amod
11	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 extinction	nmod
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal cause of the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme
2	cause			the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs	nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
3	extinguish			the non-avian dinosaurs	nom extinction «state 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 · ← Mova's choice

A universal flood covering the whole of the Earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 flood	det
2	universal	universal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 flood	amod
3	flood	flood	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	covering	cover	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 flood	acl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 whole	det
6	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 covering	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 Earth	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Earth	det
9	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 whole	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cover	gerund	a universal flood not said here	the whole					vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme whole=Destination

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The impact of an asteroid upon the region now known as Mexico, approximately sixty-six million years ago

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 impact	det
2	impact	impact	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 known	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 asteroid	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 asteroid	det
5	asteroid	asteroid	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 impact	nmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 region	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 region	det
8	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 impact	nmod
9	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 known	advmod
10	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
11	as	as	ADP	_	12 Mexico	case
12	Mexico	Mexico	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 known	obl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 years	punct
14	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	18 million	advmod
15	sixty	sixty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	18 million	compound
16	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 sixty	punct
17	six	six	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 sixty	conj
18	million	million	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	19 years	nummod
19	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 known	obl:unmarked
20	ago	ago	ADV	_	19 years	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	know	participle · passive		the impact of a asteroid upon the region			now; year	as Mexico	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus as mexico=Attribute
2	impact			a asteroid				upon the region	nom impact «event transitive»: of=patient upon=obl

Option 3

Prolonged conflict between the carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaur species across all the continents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Prolonged	prolong	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 conflict	amod
2	conflict	conflict	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	between	between	ADP	_	9 species	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 species	det
5	carnivorous	carnivorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 species	amod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 herbivorous	cc
7	herbivorous	herbivorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 carnivorous	conj
8	dinosaur	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 species	compound
9	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 conflict	nmod
10	across	across	ADP	_	13 continents	case
11	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	13 continents	det:predet
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 continents	det
13	continents	continent	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 species	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prolong	participle							vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The hunting of dinosaurs by early human beings

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 hunting	det
2	hunting	hunting	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 dinosaurs	case
4	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hunting	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	8 beings	case
6	early	early	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 beings	amod
7	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 beings	amod
8	beings	being	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hunting	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hunt		early human beings	dinosaurs					nom hunting «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/300-the-big-biology-quiz-part-3-dinosaurs-evolution-conservation-and-food/e1/