Exam question 4 · China's great rivers: the finless porpoise, the lost baiji…

Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the Chinese sturgeon, as presented in this lesson.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, Chinese sturgeon · What happens: ascertain, present, cause, decline · To what, where: principal cause, lesson, decline

This is exam question 4 of lesson 379 «China's great rivers: the finless porpoise, the lost baiji, Chinese alligators and sturgeon» 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	4 cause	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cause	amod
4	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 decline	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 decline	det
7	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cause	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 sturgeon	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 sturgeon	det
10	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 sturgeon	amod
11	sturgeon	sturgeon	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 decline	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 presented	punct
13	as	as	SCONJ	_	14 presented	mark
14	presented	present	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	parataxis
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 lesson	case
16	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	17 lesson	det
17	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 presented	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal cause of the decline of the Chinese sturgeon		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	present	participle			this lesson	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	cause			the decline of the Chinese sturgeon		nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
4	decline		the Chinese sturgeon			nom decline «process intransitive»: of=agent

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

Excessive freshness of sea water at the mouth of the Yangtze

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Excessive	excessive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 freshness	amod
2	freshness	freshness	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 water	case
4	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 water	compound
5	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 freshness	nmod
6	at	at	ADP	_	8 mouth	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 mouth	det
8	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 freshness	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 Yangtze	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Yangtze	det
11	Yangtze	Yangtze	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 mouth	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

Predation by finless porpoises

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Predation	predation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	by	by	ADP	_	4 porpoises	case
3	finless	finless	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 porpoises	compound
4	porpoises	porpoise	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Predation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	predate		finless porpoises						nom predation «act transitive»: by=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Dams obstruct its access to its former spawning grounds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dams	dam	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 obstruct	nsubj
2	obstruct	obstruct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 access	nmod:poss
4	access	access	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 obstruct	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	9 grounds	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 grounds	nmod:poss
7	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 grounds	amod
8	spawning	spawning	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 grounds	compound
9	grounds	grounds	NOUN	Number=Ptan	2 obstruct	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obstruct	present	Dams	its access				to access's former spawning grounds	vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer access=Eventuality

Option 4

A deficiency of salt in its diet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 deficiency	det
2	deficiency	deficiency	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 salt	case
4	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deficiency	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 diet	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 diet	nmod:poss
7	diet	diet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deficiency	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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