Exam question 1 · Ice Age Ukraine and Europe: cave bears, cave lions, the Si…

Ascertain the principal reason for which mammoth bones were employed in the construction of dwellings at Mezhyrich.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, employ, construct · To what, where: principal reason, mammoth bones, construction, dwellings

This is exam question 1 of lesson 385 «Ice Age Ukraine and Europe: cave bears, cave lions, the Siberian unicorn and mammoth-bone houses» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 employed	obl
7	mammoth	mammoth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 bones	amod
8	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 employed	nsubj:pass
9	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 employed	aux:pass
10	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 construction	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 construction	det
13	construction	construction	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 employed	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 dwellings	case
15	dwellings	dwelling	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 construction	nmod
16	at	at	ADP	_	17 Mezhyrich	case
17	Mezhyrich	Mezhyrich	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 employed	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	employ	past · passive		mammoth bones	the construction of dwellings	for the principal reason; at Mezhyrich	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for which=Eventuality
3	construct			dwellings			nom construction «act 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Timber was scarce upon the treeless steppe

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Timber	timber	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 scarce	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 scarce	cop
3	scarce	scarce	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 steppe	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 steppe	det
6	treeless	treeless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 steppe	amod
7	steppe	steppe	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 scarce	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	Timber					upon the treeless steppe; scarce property	tree rules

Option 2

Bone was regarded as sacred and wood forbidden

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bone	bone	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 regarded	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 regarded	aux:pass
3	regarded	regard	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	as	as	ADP	_	5 sacred	case
5	sacred	sacred	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 regarded	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 forbidden	cc
7	wood	wood	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 forbidden	nsubj
8	forbidden	forbid	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 regarded	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	regard	past · passive		Bone				as sacred	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.value»: subject=Theme as sacred=Value
2	forbid	participle	wood						vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Causer

Option 3

Bone weighs less than any timber

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bone	bone	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 weighs	nsubj
2	weighs	weigh	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp ExtPos=ADV	2 weighs	advmod
4	than	than	ADP	_	3 less	fixed
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 timber	det
6	timber	timber	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 weighs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	weigh	present	Bone	any timber					vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme timber=Value

Option 4

Stone was abundant but too soft

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 abundant	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 abundant	cop
3	abundant	abundant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	but	but	CCONJ	_	6 soft	cc
5	too	too	ADV	_	6 soft	advmod
6	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 abundant	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	Stone					abundant property	tree rules
2	be		Stone not said here						tree rules

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/385-ice-age-ukraine-and-europe-cave-bears-cave-lions-the-siberian-unicorn-and-mammoth-bone-houses/e1/