Exam question 3 · Ukraine's steppe: marmots, sousliks, great bustards and As…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the present extent of the Ukrainian steppe?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, extend · To what, where: present extent, Ukrainian steppe

This is exam question 3 of lesson 373 «Ukraine's steppe: marmots, sousliks, great bustards and Askania-Nova» 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	11 extent	det
10	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 extent	amod
11	extent	extent	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 steppe	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 steppe	det
14	Ukrainian	ukrainian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 steppe	amod
15	steppe	steppe	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 extent	nmod
16	?	?	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 present extent of the Ukrainian steppe	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	extend		the Ukrainian steppe		nom extent «state 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

It continues to cover the greater part of southern Ukraine

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	2 continues	nsubj
2	continues	continue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 cover	mark
4	cover	cover	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 continues	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 part	det
6	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 part	amod
7	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cover	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 Ukraine	case
9	southern	southern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 Ukraine	amod
10	Ukraine	Ukraine	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 part	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	continue	present	It						vn continue-55.3 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	cover	to-infinitive		the greater part of southern Ukraine					vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme part=Destination

Option 2

It has been entirely converted into forest

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	5 converted	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 converted	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 converted	aux:pass
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	5 converted	advmod
5	converted	convert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	into	into	ADP	_	7 forest	case
7	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 converted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convert	present · perfect · passive		It				into forest result; entirely property	vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: subject=Patient into forest=Result

Option 3

It has expanded considerably during the past century

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 expanded	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 expanded	aux
3	expanded	expand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	considerably	considerably	ADV	_	3 expanded	advmod
5	during	during	ADP	_	8 century	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 century	det
7	past	past	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 century	amod
8	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 expanded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	expand	present · perfect · passive		It			century	considerably property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Only a minute fraction survives, principally in reserves and upon ancient burial mounds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Only	only	ADV	_	5 survives	advmod
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 fraction	det
3	minute	minute	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 fraction	compound
4	fraction	fraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 survives	nsubj
5	survives	survive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 reserves	punct
7	principally	principally	ADV	_	9 reserves	advmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 reserves	case
9	reserves	reserve	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 survives	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 mounds	cc
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	14 mounds	case
12	ancient	ancient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 mounds	amod
13	burial	burial	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 mounds	compound
14	mounds	mound	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 reserves	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	survive	present	a minute fraction			reserves and ancient burial mounds			vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in reserve=Location

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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