Exam question 2 · The end of the dinosaurs, and birds as living dinosaurs

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the evolutionary origin of birds?

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

This is exam question 2 of lesson 76 «The end of the dinosaurs, and birds as living dinosaurs» 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 origin	det
10	evolutionary	evolutionary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 origin	amod
11	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 birds	case
13	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 origin	nmod
14	?	?	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 evolutionary origin of birds				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

Birds are descended from the pterosaurs, the flying reptiles of the Mesozoic

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 descended	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 descended	aux:pass
3	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 pterosaurs	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 pterosaurs	det
6	pterosaurs	pterosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 descended	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 reptiles	punct
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 reptiles	det
9	flying	fly	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 reptiles	amod
10	reptiles	reptile	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 pterosaurs	nmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 Mesozoic	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Mesozoic	det
13	Mesozoic	Mesozoic	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 reptiles	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present · passive		Birds		the pterosaurs the flying reptiles of the Mesozoic			vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme
2	fly	gerund							vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

Birds are descended from the long-necked sauropods

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 descended	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 descended	aux:pass
3	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	9 sauropods	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 sauropods	det
6	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 necked	amod
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 long	punct
8	necked	neck	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 sauropods	amod
9	sauropods	sauropod	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 descended	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present · passive		Birds		the necked sauropods			vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme
2	neck	participle							vn marry-36.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Birds are descended from small feathered carnivorous dinosaurs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 descended	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 descended	aux:pass
3	descended	descend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	8 dinosaurs	case
5	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 dinosaurs	amod
6	feathered	feathered	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 dinosaurs	amod
7	carnivorous	carnivorous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 dinosaurs	amod
8	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 descended	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present · passive		Birds				from small feathered carnivorous dinosaurs	vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

Birds arose independently of all reptiles

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 arose	nsubj
2	arose	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	independently	independently	ADV	_	2 arose	advmod
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 reptiles	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 reptiles	det
6	reptiles	reptile	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 arose	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	past	Birds					of all reptiles; independently property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds/e2/