Exam question 4 · Giant reptiles of the past: Titanoboa, Sarcosuchus, Deinos…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the vulnerability of giant reptiles to environmental change?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: vulnerability

This is exam question 4 of lesson 383 «Giant reptiles of the past: Titanoboa, Sarcosuchus, Deinosuchus and giant tortoises» 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 vulnerability	det
10	vulnerability	vulnerability	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 reptiles	case
12	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 reptiles	amod
13	reptiles	reptile	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 vulnerability	nmod
14	to	to	ADP	_	16 change	case
15	environmental	environmental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 change	amod
16	change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 reptiles	nmod
17	?	?	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 vulnerability of giant reptiles to environmental change				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

They reproduced far too rapidly for the quantity of food available within their habitat

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 reproduced	nsubj
2	reproduced	reproduce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	2 reproduced	advmod
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 rapidly	advmod
5	rapidly	rapidly	ADV	_	2 reproduced	advmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 quantity	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 quantity	det
8	quantity	quantity	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reproduced	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 food	case
10	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 quantity	nmod
11	available	available	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 food	amod
12	within	within	ADP	_	14 habitat	case
13	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 habitat	nmod:poss
14	habitat	habitat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reproduced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reproduce	past	They					for the quantity of food; within their habitat; far, rapidly property	vn birth-28.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Their small size made them easy prey

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 size	nmod:poss
2	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 size	amod
3	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 made	nsubj
4	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 made	obj
6	easy	easy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 prey	amod
7	prey	prey	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 made	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	past	Their small size	them = they					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset they=Beneficiary prey=Product

Option 3

Their warm blood was unsuited to heat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 blood	nmod:poss
2	warm	warm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 blood	amod
3	blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 unsuited	nsubj:pass
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 unsuited	aux:pass
5	unsuited	unsuit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 heat	mark
7	heat	heat	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 unsuited	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	unsuit	past · passive		Their warm blood					tree rules
2	heat	to-infinitive							vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Their great demand for food and few offspring rendered recovery difficult

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 demand	nmod:poss
2	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 demand	amod
3	demand	demand	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 rendered	nsubj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 food	case
5	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 demand	nmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 offspring	cc
7	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 offspring	amod
8	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 demand	conj
9	rendered	render	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	recovery	recovery	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 rendered	obj
11	difficult	difficult	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 rendered	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	participle	Their great demand for food and few offspring	recovery				difficult property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent recovery=Theme
2	demand		Their = they					for food	nom demand «communication transitive»: poss=agent for=obl

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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