Exam question 3 · The real animals of the river bank: the water vole, the mo…

Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the otter in England during the 1960s and 1970s.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, otter · What happens: ascertain, cause, decline · To what, where: principal cause, decline

This is exam question 3 of lesson 403 «The real animals of the river bank: the water vole, the mole, the otter, the toad and the river birds» 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 cause	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cause	amod
4	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 decline	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 decline	det
7	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cause	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 otter	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 otter	det
10	otter	otter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 decline	nmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 England	case
12	England	England	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 otter	nmod
13	during	during	ADP	_	15 1960s	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 1960s	det
15	1960s	1960s	NOUN	Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card	1 Ascertain	obl
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 1970s	cc
17	1970s	1970s	NOUN	Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card	15 1960s	conj
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal cause of the decline of the otter in England	during the 1960s and 1970s	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	cause			the decline of the otter in England		nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
3	decline		the otter in England			nom decline «process intransitive»: of=agent

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

Competition with the water vole for fish

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Competition	competition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	with	with	ADP	_	5 vole	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 vole	det
4	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 vole	compound
5	vole	vole	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Competition	nmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 fish	case
7	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 vole	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Poisons used in farming entered the rivers and the fish

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Poisons	poison	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 entered	nsubj
2	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Poisons	acl
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 farming	case
4	farming	farming	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 used	obl
5	entered	enter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 rivers	det
7	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 entered	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 fish	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 fish	det
10	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rivers	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	participle		Poisons not said here		farming			vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	enter	past	Poisons	the rivers and the fish					vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme river=Destination

Option 3

The flooding of every river in the land during the winter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 flooding	det
2	flooding	flooding	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 river	case
4	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	5 river	det
5	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 flooding	nmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 land	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 land	det
8	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 river	nmod
9	during	during	ADP	_	11 winter	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 winter	det
11	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 flooding	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flood			every river in the land			during the winter		nom flooding «act transitive»: of=patient during=obl

Option 4

The cutting down of the willows

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cutting	det
2	cutting	cutting	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	down	down	ADV	_	2 cutting	advmod
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 willows	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 willows	det
6	willows	willow	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cutting	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut		the willows						nom cutting «act intransitive»: of=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/403-the-real-animals-of-the-river-bank-water-vole-mole-otter-toad-and-the-river-birds/e3/