Exam question 4 · Cells, bones and muscles

Ascertain the cause of the diurnal variation in human stature of approximately one centimetre.

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

This is exam question 4 of lesson 64 «Cells, bones and muscles» 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 variation	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 variation	det
6	diurnal	diurnal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 variation	amod
7	variation	variation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cause	nmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 stature	case
9	human	human	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 stature	amod
10	stature	stature	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 variation	nmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 centimetre	case
12	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	13 one	advmod
13	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	14 centimetre	nummod
14	centimetre	centimetre	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stature	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the cause of the diurnal variation in human stature of one centimetre					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	cause			the diurnal variation in human stature of one centimetre					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 nightly growth of the long bones

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 growth	det
2	nightly	nightly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 growth	amod
3	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 bones	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 bones	det
6	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 bones	amod
7	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 growth	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	grow		the long bones						nom growth «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The contraction of the heart muscle

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 contraction	det
2	contraction	contraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 muscle	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 muscle	det
5	heart	heart	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 muscle	compound
6	muscle	muscle	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contraction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contract			the heart muscle					nom contraction «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Compression and recovery of the intervertebral discs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Compression	compression	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	and	and	CCONJ	_	3 recovery	cc
3	recovery	recovery	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Compression	conj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 discs	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 discs	det
6	intervertebral	intervertebral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 discs	amod
7	discs	disc	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Compression	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compress			the intervertebral discs					nom compression «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The swelling of the feet by evening

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 swelling	det
2	swelling	swelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 feet	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 feet	det
5	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 swelling	nmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 evening	case
7	evening	evening	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 swelling	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swell		the feet						nom swelling «state 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.

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