Exam question 4 · Roots, stems and leaves

Ascertain the cause of the autumnal reddening and yellowing of the leaves of deciduous trees.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, yellow, cause · To what, where: cause, autumnal reddening

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 cause	det
3	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 reddening	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 reddening	det
6	autumnal	autumnal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 reddening	amod
7	reddening	reddening	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cause	nmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 yellowing	cc
9	yellowing	yellow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 reddening	conj
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 leaves	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 leaves	det
12	leaves	leaf	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 yellowing	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 trees	case
14	deciduous	deciduous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 trees	amod
15	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 leaves	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the cause of the autumnal reddening		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	yellow	gerund	you not said here		of the leaves of deciduous trees	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	cause			the autumnal reddening		nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient

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 deposition of colour by frost upon the surface

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 deposition	det
2	deposition	deposition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 colour	case
4	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deposition	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 frost	case
6	frost	frost	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deposition	nmod
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 surface	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 surface	det
9	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deposition	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	depose		colour					upon the surface	nom deposition «process intransitive»: of=agent upon=obl

Option 2

The combustion of the leaf through the summer heat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 combustion	det
2	combustion	combustion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 leaf	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 leaf	det
5	leaf	leaf	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 combustion	nmod
6	through	through	ADP	_	9 heat	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 heat	det
8	summer	summer	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 heat	compound
9	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 combustion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	combust		the leaf			the summer heat			nom combustion «process intransitive»: of=agent through=place

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The breakdown of chlorophyll, revealing other pigments, some red ones newly made

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 breakdown	det
2	breakdown	breakdown	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 chlorophyll	case
4	chlorophyll	chlorophyll	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 breakdown	nmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 revealing	punct
6	revealing	reveal	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 breakdown	acl
7	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 pigments	amod
8	pigments	pigment	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 revealing	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 ones	punct
10	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	12 ones	det
11	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 ones	amod
12	ones	one	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 pigments	appos
13	newly	newly	ADV	_	14 made	advmod
14	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 ones	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reveal	gerund	the breakdown of chlorophyll not said here	other pigments					vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pigment=Topic
2	make	participle		some red ones not said here				newly property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

Option 4

The absorption of red light from the setting Sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 absorption	det
2	absorption	absorption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 light	case
4	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 light	amod
5	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorption	nmod
6	from	from	ADP	_	9 Sun	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Sun	det
8	setting	setting	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 Sun	compound
9	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 light	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb			red light from the setting Sun					nom absorption «process 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/e4/