Test 9 · Fossils: how we know about life long ago

«mammoths died out way before the pyramids, obvs» What is right?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: mammoths · What happens: die out, be · To what, where: way

This is test 9 of lesson 74 «Fossils: how we know about life long ago» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. 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	«	«	PUNCT	_	3 died	punct
2	mammoths	mammoth	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 died	nsubj
3	died	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 right	advcl
4	out	out	ADP	_	3 died	compound:prt
5	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 died	obl:unmarked
6	before	before	ADP	_	8 pyramids	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 pyramids	det
8	pyramids	pyramid	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 died	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 obvs	punct
10	obvs	obv	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 pyramids	conj
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	3 died	punct
12	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	14 right	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 right	cop
14	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	14 right	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	die out in a quote	past	mammoths	way			before the pyramids and obvs		vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
2	is	present						right 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

No, herds of mammoths still roam wild across Siberia today

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	3 herds	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 No	punct
3	herds	herd	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 roam	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 mammoths	case
5	mammoths	mammoth	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 herds	nmod
6	still	still	ADV	_	7 roam	advmod
7	roam	roam	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	wild	wild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 roam	xcomp
9	across	across	ADP	_	10 Siberia	case
10	Siberia	Siberia	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 roam	obl
11	today	today	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 roam	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	roam	present	herds of mammoths			Siberia	still; today	wild property	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across siberia=Trajectory

Option 2

Yes, mammoths died out a million years ago

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	4 died	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	mammoths	mammoth	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 died	nsubj
4	died	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	out	out	ADP	_	4 died	compound:prt
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 million	det
7	million	million	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 years	nummod
8	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 died	obl:unmarked
9	ago	ago	ADV	_	8 years	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	die out	past	mammoths				year		vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Mammoths still lived on Wrangel Island when the pyramids were built

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mammoths	mammoth	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 lived	nsubj
2	still	still	ADV	_	3 lived	advmod
3	lived	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	on	on	ADP	_	6 Island	case
5	Wrangel	Wrangel	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Island	compound
6	Island	Island	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 lived	obl
7	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	11 built	advmod
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 pyramids	det
9	pyramids	pyramid	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 built	nsubj:pass
10	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 built	aux:pass
11	built	build	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 lived	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	live	past	Mammoths			Wrangel Island	still		vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on island=Location
2	build	past · passive		the pyramids					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product

Option 4

Yes, mammoths died out at the same time as the dinosaurs did

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	4 died	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	mammoths	mammoth	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 died	nsubj
4	died	die	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	out	out	ADP	_	4 died	compound:prt
6	at	at	ADP	_	9 time	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 time	det
8	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 time	amod
9	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 died	obl
10	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 did	mark
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 dinosaurs	det
12	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 did	nsubj
13	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 died	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	die out	past	mammoths				time		vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
2	do	past	the dinosaurs						vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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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