Exam question 1 · The savanna: grass, trees and the great herds

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the savanna?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: savanna

This is exam question 1 of lesson 4 «The savanna: grass, trees and the great herds» 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 savanna	det
10	savanna	savanna	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	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 savanna				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

The savanna is a sandy expanse wholly devoid of vegetation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 savanna	det
2	savanna	savanna	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 expanse	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 expanse	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 expanse	det
5	sandy	sandy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 expanse	amod
6	expanse	expanse	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	8 devoid	advmod
8	devoid	devoid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 expanse	amod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 vegetation	case
10	vegetation	vegetation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 devoid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the savanna	a sandy expanse					tree rules

Option 2

The savanna is a dense forest receiving precipitation upon every day of the year without exception

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 savanna	det
2	savanna	savanna	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 forest	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 forest	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 forest	det
5	dense	dense	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 forest	amod
6	forest	forest	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	receiving	receive	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 forest	acl
8	precipitation	precipitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 receiving	obj
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 day	case
10	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	11 day	det
11	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 receiving	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 year	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 year	det
14	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 day	nmod
15	without	without	ADP	_	16 exception	case
16	exception	exception	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 receiving	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the savanna	a dense forest					tree rules
2	receive	gerund	a dense forest not said here	precipitation			day	without exception	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent precipitation=Theme

Option 3

The savanna is a cold, treeless plain adjacent to the North Pole

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 savanna	det
2	savanna	savanna	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 Pole	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 Pole	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 Pole	det
5	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 Pole	amod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 cold	punct
7	treeless	treeless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 plain	amod
8	plain	plain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 adjacent	amod
9	adjacent	adjacent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 Pole	amod
10	to	to	ADP	_	13 Pole	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Pole	det
12	North	North	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Pole	compound
13	Pole	Pole	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the savanna					to a cold adjacent North Pole	tree rules

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

The savanna is a warm grassland bearing scattered trees and subject to a prolonged dry season

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 savanna	det
2	savanna	savanna	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 grassland	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 grassland	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 grassland	det
5	warm	warm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 grassland	amod
6	grassland	grassland	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	bearing	bear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 grassland	acl
8	scattered	scatter	ADJ	_	9 trees	amod
9	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 bearing	obj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 subject	cc
11	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 trees	conj
12	to	to	ADP	_	16 season	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 season	det
14	prolonged	prolong	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 season	amod
15	dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 season	amod
16	season	season	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 bearing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	is a	present	the savanna	a warm grassland		tree rules
2	bear	gerund	a warm grassland not said here	scattered trees and subject	season	vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Patient
3	prolong	participle				vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/4-the-savanna/e1/