Exam question 1 · The garden in autumn: colours, conkers, webs and buried nuts

Identify the principal reason for which the leaves of many trees assume a yellow colour in autumn.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, leaves · What happens: identify, assume · To what, where: principal reason, yellow colour

This is exam question 1 of lesson 335 «The garden in autumn: colours, conkers, webs and buried nuts» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 assume	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 leaves	det
8	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 assume	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 trees	case
10	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 trees	amod
11	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 leaves	nmod
12	assume	assume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 colour	det
14	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 colour	amod
15	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 assume	obj
16	in	in	ADP	_	17 autumn	case
17	autumn	autumn	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 assume	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	assume	present	the leaves of many trees	a yellow colour			autumn	for the principal reason	vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=Theme

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 leaves absorb a yellow substance from the soil

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 leaves	det
2	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 absorb	nsubj
3	absorb	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 substance	det
5	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 substance	amod
6	substance	substance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorb	obj
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 soil	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 soil	det
9	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorb	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	the leaves	a yellow substance		the soil			vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Goal substance=Theme from soil=Source

Option 2

A yellow pigment is introduced into the leaves by the action of frost

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 pigment	det
2	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 pigment	amod
3	pigment	pigment	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 introduced	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 introduced	aux:pass
5	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	into	into	ADP	_	8 leaves	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 leaves	det
8	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 introduced	obl
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 action	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 action	det
11	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 introduced	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 frost	case
13	frost	frost	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 action	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	present · passive	the action of frost	a yellow pigment		the leaves			vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	act		frost						nom action «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The green pigment is broken down and withdrawn, revealing a yellow pigment present throughout the summer

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 pigment	det
2	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 pigment	amod
3	pigment	pigment	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 broken	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 broken	aux:pass
5	broken	break	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	down	down	ADP	_	5 broken	compound:prt
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 withdrawn	cc
8	withdrawn	withdraw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 broken	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 revealing	punct
10	revealing	reveal	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 broken	advcl
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 present	det
12	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 present	amod
13	pigment	pigment	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 present	compound
14	present	present	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 revealing	obj
15	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	17 summer	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 summer	det
17	summer	summer	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 revealing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	when	roles by
1	break down	present · passive	the green pigment		vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	withdraw	participle			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	reveal	gerund	a yellow pigment present	summer	vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent present=Topic

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The yellow colour is produced exclusively by insects feeding upon the leaves

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 colour	det
2	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 colour	amod
3	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 produced	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 produced	aux:pass
5	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	5 produced	advmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 insects	case
8	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 produced	obl
9	feeding	feed	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 insects	acl
10	upon	upon	ADP	_	12 leaves	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 leaves	det
12	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 feeding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	present · passive	insects	the yellow colour				exclusively property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result
2	feed	gerund	insects not said here					upon the leaves	vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=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/335-the-garden-in-autumn-colours-conkers-webs-and-buried-nuts/e1/