Exam question 1 · Roots, stems and leaves

Identify the principal function of the root hairs of a plant.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify · To what, where: principal function

This is exam question 1 of lesson 57 «Roots, stems and leaves» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 hairs	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 hairs	det
7	root	root	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 hairs	compound
8	hairs	hair	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 function	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 plant	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 plant	det
11	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 hairs	nmod
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal function of the root hairs of a plant					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme

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 production of seeds beneath the soil

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 production	det
2	production	production	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 seeds	case
4	seeds	seed	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 production	nmod
5	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	7 soil	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 soil	det
7	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 seeds	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce			seeds beneath the soil					nom production «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The anchorage of the plant in the air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 anchorage	det
2	anchorage	anchorage	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 plant	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 plant	det
5	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 anchorage	nmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 air	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 air	det
8	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 plant	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	anchor			the plant in the air					nom anchorage «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The storage of sugar for winter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 storage	det
2	storage	storage	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 sugar	case
4	sugar	sugar	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 storage	nmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 winter	case
6	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 storage	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	store			sugar				for winter	nom storage «act transitive»: of=patient for=obl

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The enlargement of the surface which absorbs water and minerals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 enlargement	det
2	enlargement	enlargement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 surface	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 surface	det
5	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 enlargement	nmod
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 absorbs	nsubj
7	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 enlargement	acl:relcl
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 absorbs	obj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 minerals	cc
10	minerals	mineral	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 water	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	the enlargement of the surface	water and minerals					vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal water=Theme
2	enlarge			the surface					nom enlargement «act transitive»: of=patient

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/57-roots-stems-and-leaves/e1/