Exam question 3 · The end of the dinosaurs, and birds as living dinosaurs

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the principal cause of death following the impact.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts, principal cause · What happens: select, establish, concern, follow, cause · To what, where: response, principal cause, impact, death

This is exam question 3 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 cause	det
11	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 cause	amod
12	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 death	case
14	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 cause	nmod
15	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 cause	acl
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 impact	det
17	impact	impact	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 following	obj
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the principal cause of death		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus cause=Experiencer
4	follow	gerund	the principal cause of death not said here	the impact		vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent impact=Theme
5	cause			death		nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient

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 direct impact of the asteroid upon every living creature

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 impact	det
2	direct	direct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 impact	amod
3	impact	impact	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 asteroid	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 asteroid	det
6	asteroid	asteroid	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 impact	nmod
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 creature	case
8	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	10 creature	det
9	living	living	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 creature	compound
10	creature	creature	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 impact	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	impact			the asteroid				upon every living creature	nom impact «event transitive»: of=patient upon=obl

Option 2

A reversal of the rotation of the Earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 reversal	det
2	reversal	reversal	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 rotation	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 rotation	det
5	rotation	rotation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reversal	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 Earth	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Earth	det
8	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 rotation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reverse			the rotation of the Earth					nom reversal «act transitive»: of=patient
2	rotate		the Earth						nom rotation «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The obscuring of sunlight by dust, which cooled the planet and halted plant growth

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 sunlight	det
2	obscuring	obscure	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 sunlight	compound
3	of	of	ADP	_	2 obscuring	obl
4	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 cooled	nsubj
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 dust	case
6	dust	dust	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 sunlight	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 cooled	punct
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 cooled	nsubj
9	cooled	cool	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 planet	det
11	planet	planet	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 cooled	obj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 halted	cc
13	halted	halt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 cooled	conj
14	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 growth	compound
15	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 halted	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	obscure	gerund			vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent
2	cool	past	the obscuring sunlight by dust	the planet	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent planet=Patient
3	halt	past	the obscuring sunlight by dust not said here	plant growth	vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector growth=Eventuality

Option 4

A worldwide flood which drowned all land animals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 flood	det
2	worldwide	worldwide	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 flood	amod
3	flood	flood	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 drowned	nsubj
5	drowned	drown	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 flood	acl:relcl
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 animals	det
7	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 animals	compound
8	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 drowned	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drown	past	a worldwide flood	all land animals					vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=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/76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds/e3/