Exam question 4 · Mammal giants of the past: Paraceratherium, Diprotodon, th…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the diet attributed to the giant beaver?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, attribute · To what, where: diet

This is exam question 4 of lesson 384 «Mammal giants of the past: Paraceratherium, Diprotodon, the giant beaver and Gigantopithecus» 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 diet	det
10	diet	diet	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	attributed	attribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 diet	acl
12	to	to	ADP	_	15 beaver	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 beaver	det
14	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 beaver	amod
15	beaver	beaver	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 attributed	obl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the diet	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	attribute	participle	the diet not said here	to the giant beaver	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

It fed upon other rodents

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 fed	nsubj
2	fed	feed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 rodents	case
4	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 rodents	amod
5	rodents	rodent	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 fed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	feed	past	It					upon other rodents	vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It was a predator of fish and frogs

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	4 predator	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 predator	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 predator	det
4	predator	predator	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 fish	case
6	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 predator	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 frogs	cc
8	frogs	frog	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 predator	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	a predator and frogs				of fish	tree rules

Option 3

It consumed exclusively the trunks of great trees, which it felled itself

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 consumed	nsubj
2	consumed	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 consumed	advmod
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 trunks	det
5	trunks	trunk	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 felled	nsubj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 trees	case
7	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 trees	amod
8	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 trunks	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 felled	punct
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 felled	nsubj
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 felled	nsubj
12	felled	fell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 consumed	parataxis
13	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	12 felled	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	past	It					exclusively property	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	fell	past	the trunks of great trees	itself = it					tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It is reported to have subsisted principally upon aquatic plants

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 reported	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reported	aux:pass
3	reported	report	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	6 subsisted	mark
5	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 subsisted	aux
6	subsisted	subsist	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	3 reported	xcomp
7	principally	principally	ADV	_	6 subsisted	advmod
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 plants	case
9	aquatic	aquatic	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 plants	compound
10	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 subsisted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	report	present · passive		It					vn characterize-29.2-1-2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute
2	subsist	to-infinitive · perfect						upon aquatic plants; principally property	vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent

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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