Exam question 3 · The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs

Ascertain the contribution of Gregor Mendel to the biological sciences.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, contribute · To what, where: contribution, Gregor Mendel

This is exam question 3 of lesson 338 «The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs» 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	3 contribution	det
3	contribution	contribution	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 Mendel	case
5	Gregor	Gregor	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Mendel	compound
6	Mendel	Mendel	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 contribution	nmod
7	to	to	ADP	_	10 sciences	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 sciences	det
9	biological	biological	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 sciences	amod
10	sciences	science	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascertain	obl
11	.	.	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 contribution of Gregor Mendel				to the biological sciences	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent contribution=Topic
2	contribute			Gregor Mendel					nom contribution «act 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

He was the first to bring the potato across the ocean from South America and grow it in European fields

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 first	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 first	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 first	det
4	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 bring	mark
6	bring	bring	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 first	acl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 potato	det
8	potato	potato	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 bring	obj
9	across	across	ADP	_	11 ocean	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 ocean	det
11	ocean	ocean	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 bring	obl
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 America	case
13	South	South	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 America	compound
14	America	America	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 ocean	nmod
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 grow	cc
16	grow	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 bring	conj
17	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 grow	obj
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 fields	case
19	European	European	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 fields	amod
20	fields	field	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 grow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	past	He			first property	tree rules
2	bring	to-infinitive		the potato	the ocean from South America		vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent potato=Theme
3	grow	infinitive		potato	European fields		vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location it=Theme

Option 2

He discovered the red colour of the tomato

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 discovered	nsubj
2	discovered	discover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 colour	det
4	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 colour	amod
5	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 discovered	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 tomato	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 tomato	det
8	tomato	tomato	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 colour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discover	past	He	the red colour of the tomato					vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=Topic

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Through the cultivation of thousands of pea plants he established the founding principles of genetics

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Through	through	ADP	_	3 cultivation	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 cultivation	det
3	cultivation	cultivation	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 established	obl
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 thousands	case
5	thousands	thousand	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cultivation	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 plants	case
7	pea	pea	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 plants	compound
8	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 thousands	nmod
9	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 established	nsubj
10	established	establish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 principles	det
12	founding	founding	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 principles	compound
13	principles	principle	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 established	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 genetics	case
15	genetics	genetics	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 principles	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	establish	past	he	the founding principles of genetics				through the cultivation of thousands of pea plants	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent principle=Patient through cultivation=Instrument
2	cultivate			thousands of pea plants					nom cultivation «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

He invented the first compost heap

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 invented	nsubj
2	invented	invent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 heap	det
4	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 heap	amod
5	compost	compost	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 heap	compound
6	heap	heap	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 invented	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invent	past	He	the first compost heap					vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heap=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.

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