Exam question 4 · Weeds and wildflowers: dandelions, nettles, daisies, clove…

Ascertain the cause of the yellow reflection produced when a buttercup is held beneath the chin.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, produce, hold, cause · To what, where: cause, yellow reflection, buttercup, chin

This is exam question 4 of lesson 340 «Weeds and wildflowers: dandelions, nettles, daisies, clover and plantain» 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 cause	det
3	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 reflection	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 reflection	det
6	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 reflection	amod
7	reflection	reflection	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cause	nmod
8	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 reflection	acl
9	when	when	SCONJ	_	13 held	mark
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 buttercup	det
11	buttercup	buttercup	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 held	nsubj:pass
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 held	aux:pass
13	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 produced	advcl
14	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	16 chin	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 chin	det
16	chin	chin	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 held	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the cause of the yellow reflection		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	produce	participle		the yellow reflection not said here		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	hold	present · passive		a buttercup	the chin	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme beneath chin=Location
4	cause			the yellow reflection		nom cause «event 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

The skin of the subject emits a yellow light in sunshine

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 skin	det
2	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 emits	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 subject	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 subject	det
5	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 skin	nmod
6	emits	emit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 light	det
8	yellow	yellow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 light	amod
9	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 emits	obj
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 sunshine	case
11	sunshine	sunshine	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 emits	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	emit	present	the skin of the subject	a yellow light		sunshine			vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source light=Theme

Option 2

The subject's fondness for butter is thereby demonstrated

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 subject	det
2	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 fondness	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 subject	case
4	fondness	fondness	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 demonstrated	nsubj:pass
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 butter	case
6	butter	butter	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 fondness	nmod
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 demonstrated	aux:pass
8	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	9 demonstrated	advmod
9	demonstrated	demonstrate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	demonstrate	present · passive		the subject's fondness for butter				thereby property	vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

Option 3

Pollen is deposited upon the skin of the subject

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pollen	pollen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 deposited	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 deposited	aux:pass
3	deposited	deposit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 skin	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 skin	det
6	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 deposited	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 subject	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 subject	det
9	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 skin	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deposit	present · passive		Pollen		the skin of the subject			vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon skin=Destination

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A glossy layer within the petals reflects light, irrespective of any preference of the subject

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 layer	det
2	glossy	glossy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 layer	amod
3	layer	layer	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reflects	nsubj
4	within	within	ADP	_	6 petals	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 petals	det
6	petals	petal	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 layer	nmod
7	reflects	reflect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reflects	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 preference	punct
10	irrespective	irrespective	ADV	_	13 preference	advmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 preference	case
12	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	13 preference	det
13	preference	preference	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reflects	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 subject	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 subject	det
16	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 preference	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reflect	present	a glossy layer within the petals	light				of any preference of the subject	tree rules
2	prefer			the subject					nom preference «feeling transitive»: of=patient

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/340-weeds-and-wildflowers-dandelions-nettles-daisies-clover-and-plantain/e4/