Exam question 3 · Fossils: how we know about life long ago

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the relative age of strata in an undisturbed sequence of rock?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: relative age, undisturbed sequence

This is exam question 3 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	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	11 age	det
10	relative	relative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 age	amod
11	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 strata	case
13	strata	strata	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 age	nmod
14	in	in	ADP	_	17 sequence	case
15	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 sequence	det
16	undisturbed	undisturbed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 sequence	amod
17	sequence	sequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 rock	case
19	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 sequence	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the relative age of strata		a undisturbed sequence of rock		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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 right answer

Lower strata are ordinarily older than those situated above them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Lower	low	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 strata	amod
2	strata	strata	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 older	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 older	cop
4	ordinarily	ordinarily	ADV	_	5 older	advmod
5	older	old	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
6	than	than	ADP	_	7 those	case
7	those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	5 older	obl
8	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 those	acl
9	above	above	ADP	_	10 them	case
10	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Lower strata					than those; old, ordinarily property	tree rules
2	situate	participle						above them = they	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent above they=Destination

Option 2

All strata in a given cliff are invariably of identical age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 strata	det
2	strata	strata	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 invariably	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 cliff	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 cliff	det
5	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 cliff	amod
6	cliff	cliff	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 strata	nmod
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 invariably	cop
8	invariably	invariably	ADV	PronType=Dem	root	root
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 age	case
10	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 age	amod
11	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 invariably	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	participle							vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	is	present	all strata in a given cliff				of identical age	invariably property	tree rules

Option 3

The thickness of a stratum alone determines its age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 thickness	det
2	thickness	thickness	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 determines	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 stratum	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 stratum	det
5	stratum	stratum	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 thickness	nmod
6	alone	alone	ADV	_	7 determines	advmod
7	determines	determine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 age	nmod:poss
9	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 determines	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	present	the thickness of a stratum	thickness's age				alone property	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent age=Topic

Option 4

Higher strata are ordinarily older than those situated below them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Higher	high	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 strata	amod
2	strata	strata	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 older	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 older	cop
4	ordinarily	ordinarily	ADV	_	5 older	advmod
5	older	old	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
6	than	than	ADP	_	7 those	case
7	those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	5 older	obl
8	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 those	acl
9	below	below	ADP	_	10 them	case
10	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Higher strata					than those; old, ordinarily property	tree rules
2	situate	participle						below them = they	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent below they=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.

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