Exam question 2 · The big biology quiz, part 3: dinosaurs, evolution, conser…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the elongation of the neck of the giraffe.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, elongation

This is exam question 2 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 elongation	det
11	elongation	elongation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 neck	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 neck	det
14	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 elongation	nmod
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 giraffe	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 giraffe	det
17	giraffe	giraffe	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 neck	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the elongation of the neck of the giraffe		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus elongation=Experiencer

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 neck of each giraffe continues to elongate throughout its life

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 neck	det
2	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 continues	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 giraffe	case
4	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	5 giraffe	det
5	giraffe	giraffe	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 neck	nmod
6	continues	continue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	to	to	PART	_	8 elongate	mark
8	elongate	elongate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 continues	xcomp
9	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	11 life	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 life	nmod:poss
11	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 elongate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	continue	present	the neck of each giraffe						vn continue-55.3 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	elongate	to-infinitive	the neck of each giraffe not said here				throughout neck's life		tree rules

Option 2

Each individual stretched its neck and transmitted the stretching to its offspring

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 individual	det
2	individual	individual	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stretched	nsubj
3	stretched	stretch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 neck	nmod:poss
5	neck	neck	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stretched	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 transmitted	cc
7	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 stretched	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 stretching	det
9	stretching	stretching	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 transmitted	obj
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 offspring	case
11	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 offspring	nmod:poss
12	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 transmitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stretch	past	each individual	individual's neck					vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent neck=Patient
2	transmit	past	each individual not said here	the stretching		individual's offspring			vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent stretching=Theme to offspring=Destination

Option 3

The elongation was produced by suspension from the branches of trees

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 elongation	det
2	elongation	elongation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 produced	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 produced	aux:pass
4	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 suspension	case
6	suspension	suspension	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 produced	obl
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 branches	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 branches	det
9	branches	branch	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 produced	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 trees	case
11	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 branches	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	past · passive	suspension	the elongation		the branches of trees			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent subject=Result from branch=Material

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Individuals with longer necks obtained more food and produced more offspring over successive generations

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Individuals	individual	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 obtained	nsubj
2	with	with	ADP	_	4 necks	case
3	longer	long	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	4 necks	amod
4	necks	neck	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Individuals	nmod
5	obtained	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 food	amod
7	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 obtained	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 produced	cc
9	produced	produce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 obtained	conj
10	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	11 offspring	advmod
11	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 produced	obj
12	over	over	ADP	_	14 generations	case
13	successive	successive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 generations	amod
14	generations	generation	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 produced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obtain	past	Individuals with longer necks	more food					vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset food=Theme
2	produce	past	Individuals with longer necks not said here	offspring			over successive generations		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent offspring=Result

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/e2/