Exam question 2 · Digestion: the journey of a sandwich

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the passage of food along the oesophagus?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: food · What happens: follow, characteris, pass · To what, where: passage

This is exam question 2 of lesson 67 «Digestion: the journey of a sandwich» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 passage	det
10	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 food	case
12	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 passage	nmod
13	along	along	ADP	_	15 oesophagus	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 oesophagus	det
15	oesophagus	oesophagus	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the passage of food	of the following statements; along the oesophagus; accurately property	tree rules
3	pass		food			nom passage «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

It descends solely under the influence of gravity

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 descends	nsubj
2	descends	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 descends	advmod
4	under	under	ADP	_	6 influence	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 influence	det
6	influence	influence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 descends	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 gravity	case
8	gravity	gravity	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 influence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present	It			the influence of gravity		solely property	vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

It is conveyed downward by repeated movements of the epiglottis

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 conveyed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 conveyed	aux:pass
3	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	downward	downward	ADV	_	3 conveyed	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 movements	case
6	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 movements	amod
7	movements	movement	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 conveyed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 epiglottis	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 epiglottis	det
10	epiglottis	epiglottis	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 movements	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	convey	present · passive	repeated movements of the epiglottis	It	downward property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent subject=Topic
2	repeat	participle				vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	move			the epiglottis		nom movement «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is propelled by waves of muscular contraction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 propelled	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 propelled	aux:pass
3	propelled	propel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 waves	case
5	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 propelled	obl:agent
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 contraction	case
7	muscular	muscular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 contraction	amod
8	contraction	contraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 waves	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	propel	present · passive	waves of muscular contraction	It					tree rules
2	wave			muscular contraction					nom wave «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It is drawn downward by suction from the stomach

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 drawn	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 drawn	aux:pass
3	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	downward	downward	ADV	_	3 drawn	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 suction	case
6	suction	suction	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 drawn	obl
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 stomach	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 stomach	det
9	stomach	stomach	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 drawn	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	present · passive	suction	It		the stomach		downward property	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from stomach=Initial_Location

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/67-digestion-the-journey-of-a-sandwich/e2/