Exam question 4 · Fossils: how we know about life long ago

Ascertain the reason for which the cloning of dinosaurs from insects preserved in amber is not possible.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, cloning · What happens: ascertain, preserve, not be · To what, where: reason, insects, amber

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	17 possible	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 cloning	det
7	cloning	cloning	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 possible	nsubj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 dinosaurs	case
9	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 cloning	nmod
10	from	from	ADP	_	11 insects	case
11	insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 dinosaurs	nmod
12	preserved	preserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 insects	acl
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 amber	case
14	amber	amber	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 preserved	obl
15	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 possible	cop
16	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	17 possible	advmod
17	possible	possible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 reason	acl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	preserve	participle		insects not said here	amber		vn defend-72.3 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
3	not is	present	the cloning of dinosaurs from insects			for the reason; possible 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

Amber is too hard to be cut by any laboratory instruments presently available

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Amber	amber	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 hard	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 hard	cop
3	too	too	ADV	_	4 hard	advmod
4	hard	hard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	7 cut	mark
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 cut	aux:pass
7	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 hard	advcl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 instruments	case
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	11 instruments	det
10	laboratory	laboratory	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 instruments	compound
11	instruments	instrument	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 cut	obl
12	presently	presently	ADV	_	13 available	advmod
13	available	available	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 cut	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Amber					hard property	tree rules
2	cut	to-infinitive · passive	any laboratory instruments						vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Option 2

The cloning of any animal is prohibited by the laws of physics

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cloning	det
2	cloning	cloning	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 prohibited	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 animal	case
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	5 animal	det
5	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cloning	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 prohibited	aux:pass
7	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 laws	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 laws	det
10	laws	law	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 prohibited	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 physics	case
12	physics	physics	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 laws	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive	the laws of physics	the cloning of any animal					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Genetic material degrades far too rapidly to persist for such a period

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Genetic	genetic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 material	amod
2	material	material	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 degrades	nsubj
3	degrades	degrade	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	6 rapidly	advmod
5	too	too	ADV	_	6 rapidly	advmod
6	rapidly	rapidly	ADV	_	3 degrades	advmod
7	to	to	PART	_	8 persist	mark
8	persist	persist	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 rapidly	advcl
9	for	for	ADP	_	12 period	case
10	such	such	DET	PronType=Ind	12 period	det:predet
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 period	det
12	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 persist	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	degrade	present	Genetic material					rapidly property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	persist	to-infinitive	Genetic material not said here					for such period	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Insects preserved in amber never fed upon dinosaurs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Insects	insect	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 fed	nsubj:pass
2	preserved	preserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Insects	acl
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 amber	case
4	amber	amber	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 preserved	obl
5	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	6 fed	advmod
6	fed	feed	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 dinosaurs	case
8	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 fed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	preserve	participle		Insects not said here		amber			vn defend-72.3 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	not feed	participle · passive		Insects				upon dinosaurs	vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Recipient

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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