Exam question 2 · Nuts, beans, seeds and spices

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the contribution of Gregor Mendel?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, contribute · To what, where: contribution, Gregor Mendel

This is exam question 2 of lesson 348 «Nuts, beans, seeds and spices» 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 contribution	det
10	contribution	contribution	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 Mendel	case
12	Gregor	Gregor	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Mendel	compound
13	Mendel	Mendel	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 contribution	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the contribution of Gregor Mendel	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	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

He invented the first method of freezing peas

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	5 method	det
4	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	5 method	amod
5	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 invented	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 peas	case
7	freezing	freezing	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 peas	compound
8	peas	pea	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 method	nmod

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

Option 2

He demonstrated that peas grow beneath the soil

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 demonstrated	nsubj
2	demonstrated	demonstrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 grow	mark
4	peas	pea	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 grow	nsubj
5	grow	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 demonstrated	ccomp
6	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	8 soil	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 soil	det
8	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 grow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	demonstrate	past	He						vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot clause=Topic
2	grow	present	peas			the soil			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme beneath soil=Location

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He discovered the bacteria that inhabit the roots of beans

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	4 bacteria	det
4	bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 discovered	obj
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 inhabit	nsubj
6	inhabit	inhabit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 bacteria	acl:relcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 roots	det
8	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 inhabit	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 beans	case
10	beans	bean	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 roots	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discover	past	He	the bacteria					vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bacterium=Topic
2	inhabit	present	the bacteria	the roots of beans					tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

By counting the features of peas on thousands of plants he discovered how features pass from parents to offspring

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 counting	mark
2	counting	count	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 discovered	advcl
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 features	det
4	features	feature	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 counting	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 peas	case
6	peas	pea	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 features	nmod
7	on	on	ADP	_	8 thousands	case
8	thousands	thousand	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 counting	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 plants	case
10	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 thousands	nmod
11	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 discovered	nsubj
12	discovered	discover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	15 pass	advmod
14	features	feature	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 pass	nsubj
15	pass	pass	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 discovered	ccomp
16	from	from	ADP	_	17 parents	case
17	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 pass	obl
18	to	to	ADP	_	19 offspring	case
19	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 pass	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	count	gerund	he not said here	the features of peas	thousands of plants		vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feature=Theme
2	discover	past	he				vn discover-84-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	pass	present	features		offspring	from parents	vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from parent=Initial_Location to offspring=Destination
4	feature			peas			nom feature «cognition 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/348-nuts-beans-seeds-and-spices/e2/