Exam question 1 · Deserts

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the defining property of a desert?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, define · To what, where: defining property

This is exam question 1 of lesson 18 «Deserts» of the geography 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 property	det
10	defining	define	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 property	amod
11	property	property	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 desert	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 desert	det
14	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 property	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the defining property of a desert	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	define	gerund			vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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 desert is a region of high temperature irrespective of precipitation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 desert	det
2	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 region	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 region	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 region	det
5	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 temperature	case
7	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 temperature	amod
8	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 region	nmod
9	irrespective	irrespective	ADV	_	8 temperature	advmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 precipitation	case
11	precipitation	precipitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 temperature	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	a desert	a region				of high temperature of precipitation	tree rules

Option 2

A desert is a region devoid of all living organisms

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 desert	det
2	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 region	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 region	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 region	det
5	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	devoid	devoid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 region	amod
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 organisms	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	10 organisms	det
9	living	live	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 organisms	amod
10	organisms	organism	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 devoid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	a desert	a region					tree rules
2	live	gerund							vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

A desert is a region necessarily covered by sand dunes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 desert	det
2	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 region	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 region	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 region	det
5	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	necessarily	necessarily	ADV	_	7 covered	advmod
7	covered	cover	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 region	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 dunes	case
9	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 dunes	compound
10	dunes	dune	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 covered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	a desert	a region					tree rules
2	cover	participle		a region not said here				by sand dunes; necessarily property	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A desert is a region receiving very little precipitation, customarily under some two hundred and fifty millimetres a year

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 desert	det
2	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 region	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 region	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 region	det
5	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	receiving	receive	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 region	acl
7	very	very	ADV	_	8 little	advmod
8	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 precipitation	amod
9	precipitation	precipitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 receiving	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 millimetres	punct
11	customarily	customarily	ADV	_	18 millimetres	advmod
12	under	under	ADP	_	18 millimetres	case
13	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	18 millimetres	det
14	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 hundred	compound
15	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	18 millimetres	nummod
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 fifty	cc
17	fifty	fifty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 hundred	conj
18	millimetres	millimetre	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 region	appos
19	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 year	det
20	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 millimetres	nmod:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	a desert	a region					tree rules
2	receive	gerund	a region not said here	little precipitation					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent precipitation=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.

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