Exam question 4 · China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus, tea and rice paddies

Ascertain the reason for which a stem of bamboo combines strength with lightness.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, stem · What happens: ascertain, combine, stem · To what, where: reason, strength, bamboo

This is exam question 4 of lesson 380 «China's plants: bamboo, ginkgo, lotus, tea and rice paddies» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 combines	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 stem	det
7	stem	stem	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 combines	nsubj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 bamboo	case
9	bamboo	bamboo	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 stem	nmod
10	combines	combine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
11	strength	strength	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 combines	obj
12	with	with	ADP	_	13 lightness	case
13	lightness	lightness	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 combines	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	combine	present	a stem of bamboo	strength	for the reason; with lightness	vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent strength=Patient with lightness=Co-Patient
3	stem			bamboo		nom stem «communication 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

It is filled throughout with dense fibre

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 filled	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 filled	aux:pass
3	filled	fill	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	3 filled	compound:prt
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 fibre	case
6	dense	dense	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 fibre	amod
7	fibre	fibre	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 filled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fill throughout	present · passive		It				with dense fibre	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with fibre=Instrument

Option 2

It contains a reservoir of water

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 contains	nsubj
2	contains	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 reservoir	det
4	reservoir	reservoir	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contains	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 water	case
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reservoir	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	present	It	a reservoir of water					vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot reservoir=Theme

Option 3

It is reinforced by minerals of iron which it draws from the soil

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 reinforced	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reinforced	aux:pass
3	reinforced	reinforce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 minerals	case
5	minerals	mineral	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 reinforced	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 iron	case
7	iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 minerals	nmod
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 draws	nsubj
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 draws	nsubj
10	draws	draw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 iron	acl:relcl
11	from	from	ADP	_	13 soil	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 soil	det
13	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 draws	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reinforce	present · passive	minerals of iron	It					vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=Theme
2	draw	present	iron					from the soil	vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from soil=Co-Patient

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

It is hollow and divided at intervals by solid joints

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 hollow	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 hollow	cop
3	hollow	hollow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 divided	cc
5	divided	divide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 hollow	conj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 intervals	case
7	intervals	interval	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 divided	obl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 joints	case
9	solid	solid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 joints	amod
10	joints	joint	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 divided	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					hollow property	tree rules
2	divide	participle				intervals		by solid joints	vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent by joint=Co-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/380-china-s-plants-bamboo-ginkgo-lotus-tea-and-rice-paddies/e4/