Exam question 1 · Rice, maize and potatoes: the plants that feed the world

Identify the means by which the rice plant obtains air for its roots while standing in flooded fields.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, the, rice plant · What happens: identify, mean, obtain, stand, flood · To what, where: air, flooded fields

This is exam question 1 of lesson 345 «Rice, maize and potatoes: the plants that feed the world» 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	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 obtains	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 plant	det
7	rice	rice	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 plant	compound
8	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 obtains	nsubj
9	obtains	obtain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 means	parataxis
10	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 obtains	obj
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 roots	case
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 roots	nmod:poss
13	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 obtains	obl
14	while	while	SCONJ	_	15 standing	mark
15	standing	stand	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 obtains	advcl
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 fields	case
17	flooded	flood	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	18 fields	amod
18	fields	field	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 standing	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here				vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	obtain	present	the rice plant	air		for plant's roots	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent air=Theme for root=Asset
4	stand	gerund	the rice plant not said here		flooded fields		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in field=Location
5	flood	participle					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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

Air is supplied by the farmer through pipes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 supplied	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 supplied	aux:pass
3	supplied	supply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 farmer	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 farmer	det
6	farmer	farmer	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 supplied	obl
7	through	through	ADP	_	8 pipes	case
8	pipes	pipe	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 supplied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	supply	present · passive	the farmer	Air		pipes			vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Air is conveyed downward through spongy tissue within the stems

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conveyed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 conveyed	aux:pass
3	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	downward	downward	ADV	_	3 conveyed	advmod
5	through	through	ADP	_	7 tissue	case
6	spongy	spongy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 tissue	amod
7	tissue	tissue	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conveyed	obl
8	within	within	ADP	_	10 stems	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 stems	det
10	stems	stem	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 conveyed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convey	present · passive		Air		spongy tissue		within the stems; downward property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic

Option 3

The plant does not require air at any stage

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 plant	det
2	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 require	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 require	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 require	advmod
5	require	require	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 require	obj
7	at	at	ADP	_	9 stage	case
8	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	9 stage	det
9	stage	stage	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 require	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not require	present · do-support	the plant	air		any stage			vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme air=Precondition

Option 4

The roots extract oxygen from the water as a fish does

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 roots	det
2	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 extract	nsubj
3	extract	extract	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 extract	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 water	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 water	det
7	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 extract	obl
8	as	as	SCONJ	_	11 does	mark
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 fish	det
10	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 does	nsubj
11	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 extract	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	extract	present	the roots	oxygen		the water			vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent oxygen=Theme from water=Initial_Location
2	do	present	a fish						vn act-114-1 «NP V»: 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/345-rice-maize-and-potatoes-the-plants-that-feed-the-world/e1/