Exam question 3 · Ukraine's plants: sunflowers, viburnum, poppies, lime tree…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the formation of chornozem?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: formation

This is exam question 3 of lesson 377 «Ukraine's plants: sunflowers, viburnum, poppies, lime trees and steppe grasses» 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 formation	det
10	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 chornozem	case
12	chornozem	chornozem	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 formation	nmod
13	?	?	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 formation of chornozem				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 consists of coal dust

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 consists	nsubj
2	consists	consist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 dust	case
4	coal	coal	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 dust	compound
5	dust	dust	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consists	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consist	present	It					of coal dust	tree rules

Option 2

It was deposited by volcanic eruptions

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 deposited	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 deposited	aux:pass
3	deposited	deposit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 eruptions	case
5	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 eruptions	amod
6	eruptions	eruption	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 deposited	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deposit	past · passive	volcanic eruptions	It					vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It was formed over millennia through the decay of the roots of steppe grasses

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 formed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 formed	aux:pass
3	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	over	over	ADP	_	5 millennia	case
5	millennia	millennia	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 formed	obl
6	through	through	ADP	_	8 decay	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 decay	det
8	decay	decay	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 formed	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 roots	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 roots	det
11	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 decay	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 grasses	case
13	steppe	steppe	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 grasses	compound
14	grasses	grass	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 roots	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	past · passive		It		millennia		through the decay of the roots of steppe grasses	vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme
2	decay		the roots of steppe grasses						nom decay «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

It was formed within a single century by the labour of agriculture and fertilisers

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 formed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 formed	aux:pass
3	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	within	within	ADP	_	7 century	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 century	det
6	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 century	amod
7	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 formed	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 labour	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 labour	det
10	labour	labour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 formed	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 agriculture	case
12	agriculture	agriculture	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 labour	nmod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 fertilisers	cc
14	fertilisers	fertiliser	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 labour	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	past · passive	the labour of agriculture and fertilisers	It			century		vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme

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/377-ukraine-s-plants-sunflowers-viburnum-poppies-lime-trees-and-steppe-grasses/e3/