Test 10 · Silkworms and goldfish: two animals China changed

Why are dumped goldfish often dull-coloured again after a few generations in a lake?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: dump, colour · To what, where: dumped goldfish

This is test 10 of lesson 381 «Silkworms and goldfish: two animals China changed» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	3 dumped	advmod
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 dumped	aux:pass
3	dumped	dump	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 goldfish	amod
4	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 coloured	nsubj:pass
5	often	often	ADV	_	8 coloured	advmod
6	dull	dull	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 coloured	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 dull	punct
8	coloured	colour	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	again	again	ADV	_	8 coloured	advmod
10	after	after	ADP	_	13 generations	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 generations	det
12	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 generations	amod
13	generations	generation	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 coloured	obl
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 lake	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 lake	det
16	lake	lake	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 generations	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 coloured	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dump	present · passive							vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»
2	colour	participle · passive		dumped goldfish			after a few generations in a lake; again	often 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

The lake water slowly washes the bright colour off their scales

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 water	det
2	lake	lake	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 water	compound
3	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 washes	nsubj
4	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	5 washes	advmod
5	washes	wash	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 colour	det
7	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 colour	amod
8	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 washes	obj
9	off	off	ADP	_	11 scales	case
10	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 scales	nmod:poss
11	scales	scale	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 washes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wash	present	the lake water	the bright colour		their scales		slowly property	vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent colour=Theme off scale=Source

Option 2

Fish lose colour when they are happy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 lose	nsubj
2	lose	lose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 lose	obj
4	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	7 happy	advmod
5	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 happy	nsubj
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 happy	cop
7	happy	happy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 lose	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	present	Fish	colour					vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=Eventuality
2	is	present	Fish					happy property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Bright fish are easier for birds to catch, so dull ones survive

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 fish	amod
2	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 easier	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 easier	cop
4	easier	easy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 birds	case
6	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 easier	obl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 catch	mark
8	catch	catch	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 easier	advcl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 survive	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	13 survive	advmod
11	dull	dull	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 ones	amod
12	ones	one	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 survive	nsubj
13	survive	survive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 easier	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	Bright fish	for birds; easy property	tree rules
2	catch	to-infinitive	Bright fish not said here		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	survive	present	dull ones		vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

They eat too many plants

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 eat	nsubj
2	eat	eat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	too	too	ADV	_	4 many	advmod
4	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 plants	amod
5	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 eat	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	eat	present	They	many plants					vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plant=Patient

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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