Exam question 4 · Who eats whom: predators, prey, scavengers and decomposers

Ascertain the consequence which ensued upon the near disappearance of vultures in India.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, consequence, vultures · What happens: ascertain, ensue, disappear · To what, where: consequence, near disappearance

This is exam question 4 of lesson 47 «Who eats whom: predators, prey, scavengers and decomposers» 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	3 consequence	det
3	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 ensued	nsubj
5	ensued	ensue	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 consequence	acl:relcl
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 disappearance	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 disappearance	det
8	near	near	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 disappearance	amod
9	disappearance	disappearance	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 ensued	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 vultures	case
11	vultures	vulture	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 disappearance	nmod
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 India	case
13	India	India	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 vultures	nmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the consequence		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent consequence=Topic
2	ensue	past	the consequence		the near disappearance of vultures in India	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon disappearance=Location
3	disappear		vultures in India			nom disappearance «act 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 · ✓ the right answer

Carcasses remained uncleaned and disease was observed to spread

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Carcasses	carcass	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 remained	nsubj
2	remained	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	uncleaned	uncleaned	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 remained	xcomp
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 observed	cc
5	disease	disease	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 observed	nsubj:pass
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 observed	aux:pass
7	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 remained	conj
8	to	to	PART	_	9 spread	mark
9	spread	spread	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 observed	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	remain	past	Carcasses		uncleaned property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	observe	past · passive		disease		tree rules
3	spread	to-infinitive				vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

Hyenas were introduced from Africa in great numbers to replace them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hyenas	hyena	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 introduced	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 introduced	aux:pass
3	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 Africa	case
5	Africa	Africa	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 introduced	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 numbers	case
7	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 numbers	amod
8	numbers	number	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 introduced	obl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 replace	mark
10	replace	replace	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 introduced	advcl
11	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 replace	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	past · passive		Hyenas		Africa		in great numbers	vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	replace	to-infinitive		Hyenas = hyena					vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Co-Theme

Option 3

Crops ceased to grow throughout the region

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Crops	crop	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	ceased	cease	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Crops	acl
3	to	to	PART	_	4 grow	mark
4	grow	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 ceased	advcl
5	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	7 region	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 region	det
7	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 grow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cease	participle		Crops not said here					vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	grow	to-infinitive				the region			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme throughout region=Location

Option 4

The number of cattle declined sharply

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 number	det
2	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 cattle	case
4	cattle	cattle	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 number	nmod
5	declined	decline	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 cattle	acl
6	sharply	sharply	ADV	_	5 declined	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	decline	participle		cattle not said here				sharply property	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

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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