Exam question 4 · Ukraine's plants: sunflowers, viburnum, poppies, lime tree…

Ascertain the means by which the seed of feather grass is conveyed into the soil.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, the · What happens: ascertain, mean, convey · To what, where: seed, soil · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	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 Ascertain	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 conveyed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 seed	det
7	seed	seed	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 conveyed	nsubj:pass
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 grass	case
9	feather	feather	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 grass	compound
10	grass	grass	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 seed	nmod
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 conveyed	aux:pass
12	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 means	ccomp
13	into	into	ADP	_	15 soil	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 soil	det
15	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 conveyed	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	convey	present · passive		the seed of feather grass	the soil	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic

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

It is washed deep into the ground by the flood water of the spring rivers each year

The tree, 17 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	3 washed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 washed	aux:pass
3	washed	wash	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	deep	deep	ADV	_	3 washed	advmod
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 ground	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ground	det
7	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 washed	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 water	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 water	det
10	flood	flood	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 water	compound
11	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 washed	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 rivers	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 rivers	det
14	spring	spring	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 rivers	compound
15	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 water	nmod
16	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	17 year	det
17	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 washed	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wash	present · passive	the flood water of the spring rivers	It		the ground	year	deep property	vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 2

It falls vertically under its own weight

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 falls	nsubj
2	falls	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	vertically	vertically	ADV	_	2 falls	advmod
4	under	under	ADP	_	7 weight	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 weight	nmod:poss
6	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 weight	amod
7	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 falls	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fall	present	It			its own weight		vertically property	vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme under weight=Location

Option 3

It is buried by moles

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 buried	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 buried	aux:pass
3	buried	bury	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 moles	case
5	moles	mole	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 buried	obl

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

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Its awn twists when dry and untwists when damp, driving the seed into the soil

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 awn	nmod:poss
2	awn	awn	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 twists	nsubj
3	twists	twist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	when	when	SCONJ	_	5 dry	mark
5	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 twists	advcl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 untwists	cc
7	untwists	untwist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 twists	conj
8	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	9 damp	advmod
9	damp	damp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 untwists	xcomp
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 driving	punct
11	driving	drive	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 untwists	advcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 seed	det
13	seed	seed	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 driving	obj
14	into	into	ADP	_	16 soil	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 soil	det
16	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 driving	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	twist	present	Its awn				vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme
2	untwist	present	Its awn not said here			damp property	tree rules
3	drive	gerund	Its awn not said here	the seed	the soil		vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent seed=Theme into soil=Trajectory

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/e4/