Exam question 1 · Endangered animals and extinction

Identify the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo upon the island of Mauritius.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, cause, extinguish · To what, where: principal cause, extinction, dodo

This is exam question 1 of lesson 77 «Endangered animals and extinction» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 cause	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cause	amod
4	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 extinction	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 extinction	det
7	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cause	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 dodo	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 dodo	det
10	dodo	dodo	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 extinction	nmod
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	13 island	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 island	det
13	island	island	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 Mauritius	case
15	Mauritius	Mauritius	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 island	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal cause of the extinction of the dodo	upon the island of Mauritius	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme
2	cause			the extinction of the dodo		nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
3	extinguish			the dodo		nom extinction «state 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

A severe winter which froze the island

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 winter	det
2	severe	severe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 winter	amod
3	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 froze	nsubj
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 froze	nsubj
5	froze	freeze	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 island	det
7	island	island	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 froze	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	freeze	past	a severe winter	the island					vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient island=Result

Option 2

Its own lack of intelligence, which prevented it from finding sufficient food

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 lack	nmod:poss
2	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 lack	amod
3	lack	lack	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 prevented	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 intelligence	case
5	intelligence	intelligence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lack	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 prevented	punct
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 prevented	nsubj
8	prevented	prevent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 prevented	obj
10	from	from	SCONJ	_	11 finding	mark
11	finding	find	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 prevented	advcl
12	sufficient	sufficient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 food	amod
13	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 finding	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	prevent	past	Its own lack of intelligence	intelligence	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer it=Theme
2	find	gerund	Its own lack of intelligence not said here	sufficient food	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Topic
3	lack		Its = it	intelligence	nom lack «state transitive»: poss=agent of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The predation of its eggs by animals introduced by ships, and hunting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 predation	det
2	predation	predation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 eggs	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 eggs	nmod:poss
5	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 predation	nmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 animals	case
7	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 eggs	nmod
8	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 animals	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 ships	case
10	ships	ship	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 introduced	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 hunting	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 hunting	cc
13	hunting	hunting	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 predation	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	participle		animals not said here				by ships	vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	predate			its eggs by animals					nom predation «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

An eruption of a volcano which covered the island

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 eruption	det
2	eruption	eruption	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 covered	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 volcano	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 volcano	det
5	volcano	volcano	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 eruption	nmod
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 covered	nsubj
7	covered	cover	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 island	det
9	island	island	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 covered	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cover	past	a eruption of a volcano	the island					vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme island=Destination
2	erupt		a volcano						nom eruption «event intransitive»: of=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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