Exam question 3 · Roots, stems and leaves

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the spines of a cactus.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, spines

This is exam question 3 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 spines	det
11	spines	spine	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 cactus	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 cactus	det
14	cactus	cactus	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 spines	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the spines of a cactus		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus spine=Experiencer

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

They are hairs that conduct water into the plant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 hairs	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 hairs	cop
3	hairs	hair	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 conduct	nsubj
5	conduct	conduct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 hairs	acl:relcl
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 conduct	obj
7	into	into	ADP	_	9 plant	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 plant	det
9	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 conduct	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	hairs					tree rules
2	conduct	present	hairs	water		the plant			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent water=Theme into plant=Destination

Option 2

They are modified roots, and photosynthesis is conducted in the spines

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 modified	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 modified	aux:pass
3	modified	modify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 modified	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 conducted	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 conducted	cc
7	photosynthesis	photosynthesis	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 conducted	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 conducted	aux:pass
9	conducted	conduct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 modified	conj
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 spines	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 spines	det
12	spines	spine	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 conducted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	modify	present · passive		They					tree rules
2	conduct	present · passive		photosynthesis		the spines			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in spine=Destination

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They are modified leaves, and photosynthesis is conducted in the stem

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 modified	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 modified	aux:pass
3	modified	modify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 modified	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 conducted	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 conducted	cc
7	photosynthesis	photosynthesis	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 conducted	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 conducted	aux:pass
9	conducted	conduct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 modified	conj
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 stem	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 stem	det
12	stem	stem	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 conducted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	modify	present · passive		They					tree rules
2	conduct	present · passive		photosynthesis		the stem			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in stem=Destination

Option 4

They are seeds awaiting dispersal by wind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 seeds	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 seeds	cop
3	seeds	seed	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	awaiting	await	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 seeds	acl
5	dispersal	dispersal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 awaiting	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 wind	case
7	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 awaiting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	seeds					tree rules
2	await	gerund	seeds not said here	dispersal				by wind	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/57-roots-stems-and-leaves/e3/