Exam question 1 · Fossils: how we know about life long ago

Identify the principal process by which the majority of fossils are formed.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, principal process · What happens: identify, form · To what, where: principal process, majority

This is exam question 1 of lesson 74 «Fossils: how we know about life long ago» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 process	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 process	amod
4	process	process	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 formed	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 majority	det
8	majority	majority	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 formed	nsubj:pass
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 fossils	case
10	fossils	fossil	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 majority	nmod
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 formed	aux:pass
12	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 process	acl:relcl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal process					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent process=Theme
2	form	present · passive	the principal process	the majority of fossils					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme

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 hardening of bones by repeated lightning strikes during storms

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 hardening	det
2	hardening	hardening	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 strikes	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 bones	case
4	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hardening	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 lightning	case
6	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 lightning	amod
7	lightning	lightning	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hardening	nmod
8	strikes	strike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	during	during	ADP	_	10 storms	case
10	storms	storm	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 strikes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	roles by
1	repeat	participle			vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	strike	present	the hardening of bones by repeated lightning	during storms	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	harden		bones		nom hardening «state intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

Instantaneous petrification of the organism at the moment of death

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Instantaneous	instantaneous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 petrification	amod
2	petrification	petrification	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 organism	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 organism	det
5	organism	organism	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 petrification	nmod
6	at	at	ADP	_	8 moment	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 moment	det
8	moment	moment	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 organism	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 death	case
10	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 moment	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	petrify			the organism at the moment of death					nom petrification «process transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The carving of bones into stone by the action of rivers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 carving	det
2	carving	carving	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 bones	case
4	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 carving	nmod
5	into	into	ADP	_	6 stone	case
6	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 carving	nmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 action	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 action	det
9	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 carving	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 rivers	case
11	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 action	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	act		rivers						nom action «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Rapid burial of remains followed by gradual replacement by minerals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Rapid	rapid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 burial	amod
2	burial	burial	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 remains	case
4	remains	remains	NOUN	Number=Ptan	2 burial	nmod
5	followed	follow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 remains	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 replacement	case
7	gradual	gradual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 replacement	amod
8	replacement	replacement	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 followed	obl
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 minerals	case
10	minerals	mineral	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 followed	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	participle		remains not said here				by gradual replacement	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by replacement=Location
2	bury			remains					nom burial «event 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/74-fossils-life-long-ago/e1/