Exam question 1 · Evolution simply: why living things change over many gener…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the process of natural selection?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, process · To what, where: process, natural selection

This is exam question 1 of lesson 73 «Evolution simply: why living things change over many generations» 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 process	det
10	process	process	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 selection	case
12	natural	natural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 selection	amod
13	selection	selection	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 process	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the process of natural selection	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	process		natural selection		nom process «act 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

A single organism is transformed into a new species within its own lifetime

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 organism	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 organism	amod
3	organism	organism	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 transformed	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 transformed	aux:pass
5	transformed	transform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	into	into	ADP	_	9 species	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 species	det
8	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 species	amod
9	species	species	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 transformed	obl
10	within	within	ADP	_	13 lifetime	case
11	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 lifetime	nmod:poss
12	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 lifetime	amod
13	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 transformed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transform	present · passive		a single organism				into a new species result; within organism's own lifetime	vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: subject=Patient into species=Result

Option 2

Individual organisms deliberately alter their bodies in response to need

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Individual	individual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 organisms	amod
2	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 alter	nsubj
3	deliberately	deliberately	ADV	_	4 alter	advmod
4	alter	alter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 bodies	nmod:poss
6	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 alter	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 response	case
8	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 alter	obl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 need	mark
10	need	need	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 alter	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	alter	present	Individual organisms	organisms's bodies		response		deliberately property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent body=Patient
2	need	to-infinitive	Individual organisms not said here						vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Variants conferring an advantage in survival become more frequent over generations

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Variants	variant	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 become	nsubj
2	conferring	confer	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Variants	acl
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 advantage	det
4	advantage	advantage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conferring	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 survival	case
6	survival	survival	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conferring	obl
7	become	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	9 frequent	advmod
9	frequent	frequent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 become	xcomp
10	over	over	ADP	_	11 generations	case
11	generations	generation	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 frequent	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confer	gerund	Variants not said here	a advantage		survival			tree rules
2	become	present	Variants					frequent property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 4

Characteristics acquired by exercise during life are transmitted to offspring

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Characteristics	characteristic	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 transmitted	nsubj:pass
2	acquired	acquire	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Characteristics	acl
3	by	by	ADP	_	4 exercise	case
4	exercise	exercise	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acquired	obl
5	during	during	ADP	_	6 life	case
6	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acquired	obl
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 transmitted	aux:pass
8	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	to	to	ADP	_	10 offspring	case
10	offspring	offspring	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 transmitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	acquire	participle		Characteristics not said here			during life	by exercise	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset
2	transmit	present · passive		Characteristics		offspring			vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to offspring=Destination

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/73-evolution-simply/e1/