Exam question 2 · The aquarium: the coral reef tank

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the memory of the goldfish.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, memory

This is exam question 2 of lesson 90 «The aquarium: the coral reef tank» 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	11 memory	det
11	memory	memory	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 goldfish	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 goldfish	det
14	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 memory	nmod
15	.	.	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 memory of the goldfish		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus memory=Experiencer

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 memory of the goldfish endures for three seconds at most

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 memory	det
2	memory	memory	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 endures	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 goldfish	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 goldfish	det
5	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 memory	nmod
6	endures	endure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	for	for	ADP	_	9 seconds	case
8	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 seconds	nummod
9	seconds	second	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 endures	obl
10	at	at	ADP	_	11 most	case
11	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 endures	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	endure	present	the memory of the goldfish			most	second		vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at most=Location

Option 2

Goldfish retain only memories of colour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 retain	nsubj
2	retain	retain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	4 memories	advmod
4	memories	memory	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 retain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 colour	case
6	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 memories	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	present	Goldfish	memories of colour					tree rules

Option 3

Goldfish are incapable of any learning whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 incapable	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 learning	case
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 learning	det
6	learning	learning	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 incapable	obl
7	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	6 learning	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Goldfish					of any learning; incapable property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Goldfish may be trained to retain learned behaviour for months

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 trained	nsubj:pass
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 trained	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 trained	aux:pass
4	trained	train	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 retain	mark
6	retain	retain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 trained	xcomp
7	learned	learn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 behaviour	amod
8	behaviour	behaviour	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 retain	obj
9	for	for	ADP	_	10 months	case
10	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 retain	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	train	may · passive		Goldfish		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute
2	retain	to-infinitive	Goldfish not said here	learned behaviour	month	tree rules
3	learn	participle				vn learn-14-1 «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/90-aquarium-the-coral-reef-tank/e2/