Exam question 4 · Falcons, hawks, kites, ospreys and vultures

Ascertain the principal consequence of the decline of vultures in India.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, vultures · What happens: ascertain, decline · To what, where: principal consequence

This is exam question 4 of lesson 324 «Falcons, hawks, kites, ospreys and vultures» 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	4 consequence	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 consequence	amod
4	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 decline	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 decline	det
7	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consequence	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 vultures	case
9	vultures	vulture	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 decline	nmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 India	case
11	India	India	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 vultures	nmod
12	.	.	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 principal consequence of the decline of vultures in India					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent consequence=Topic
2	decline		vultures in India						nom decline «process intransitive»: of=agent

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 countryside became cleaner than before, carcasses being removed more swiftly by rain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 countryside	det
2	countryside	countryside	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 became	nsubj
3	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	cleaner	clean	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 became	xcomp
5	than	than	ADP	_	6 before	case
6	before	before	ADV	_	4 cleaner	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 removed	punct
8	carcasses	carcass	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 removed	aux
9	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 removed	aux:pass
10	removed	remove	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 became	conj
11	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	12 swiftly	advmod
12	swiftly	swiftly	ADV	_	10 removed	advmod
13	by	by	ADP	_	14 rain	case
14	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 removed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	past	the countryside					clean property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	remove	present · passive	rain					swiftly property	vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Cattle ceased to require any medicine

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cattle	cattle	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	ceased	cease	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Cattle	acl
3	to	to	PART	_	4 require	mark
4	require	require	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 ceased	xcomp
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 medicine	det
6	medicine	medicine	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 require	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cease	participle		Cattle not said here					vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
2	require	to-infinitive		any medicine					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme medicine=Precondition

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Carcasses remained unconsumed and the numbers of rats and stray dogs increased

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Carcasses	carcass	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 unconsumed	nsubj
2	remained	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 unconsumed	aux:pass
3	unconsumed	unconsum	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 increased	cc
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 numbers	det
6	numbers	number	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 increased	nsubj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 rats	case
8	rats	rat	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 numbers	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 dogs	cc
10	stray	stray	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 dogs	amod
11	dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 rats	conj
12	increased	increase	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 unconsumed	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	unconsum	past · passive		Carcasses					tree rules
2	increase	participle	the numbers of rats and stray dogs						vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 4

Lions assumed the role of the vultures

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Lions	lion	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 assumed	nsubj
2	assumed	assume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 role	det
4	role	role	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 assumed	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 vultures	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 vultures	det
7	vultures	vulture	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 role	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assume	past	Lions	the role of the vultures					vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent role=Theme

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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