Exam question 3 · Rice, maize and potatoes: the plants that feed the world

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the origin of the potato?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: origin

This is exam question 3 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 origin	det
10	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 potato	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 potato	det
13	potato	potato	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 origin	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the origin of the potato				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

It was brought to Europe by the Romans

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 brought	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 brought	aux:pass
3	brought	bring	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	5 Europe	case
5	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 brought	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 Romans	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Romans	det
8	Romans	Roman	PROPN	Number=Plur	3 brought	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bring	past · passive	the Romans	It	Europe				vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent subject=Theme to europe=Destination

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It was first cultivated in the Andes of South America and brought to Europe by the Spanish in the sixteenth century

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 cultivated	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 cultivated	aux:pass
3	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	4 cultivated	advmod
4	cultivated	cultivate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 Andes	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Andes	det
7	Andes	Ande	PROPN	Number=Plur	4 cultivated	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 America	case
9	South	South	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 America	compound
10	America	America	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Andes	nmod
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 brought	cc
12	brought	bring	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 cultivated	conj
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 Europe	case
14	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 brought	obl
15	by	by	ADP	_	17 Spanish	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 Spanish	det
17	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 brought	obl
18	in	in	ADP	_	21 century	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 century	det
20	sixteenth	sixteenth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 century	amod
21	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 brought	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cultivate	past · passive		It		the Andes of South America		first property	vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Product
2	bring	past			Europe		century	by the Spanish	vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to europe=Destination

Option 3

It was first cultivated in the deserts of North Africa

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 cultivated	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 cultivated	aux:pass
3	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	4 cultivated	advmod
4	cultivated	cultivate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 deserts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 deserts	det
7	deserts	desert	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cultivated	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 Africa	case
9	North	North	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Africa	compound
10	Africa	Africa	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 deserts	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cultivate	past · passive		It		the deserts of North Africa		first property	vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Product

Option 4

It was first cultivated in Ireland

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 cultivated	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 cultivated	aux:pass
3	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	4 cultivated	advmod
4	cultivated	cultivate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 Ireland	case
6	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 cultivated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cultivate	past · passive		It		Ireland		first property	vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Product

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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