Exam question 3 · Fossils

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the use of fossils in the dating of rocks.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, response, established facts · What happens: select, be, establish, concern, use, date · To what, where: response, use, fossils, rocks

This is exam question 3 of lesson 57 «Fossils» 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	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	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consistent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consistent	cop
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	acl:relcl
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 facts	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 facts	det
9	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 facts	amod
10	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 consistent	obl
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 facts	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 use	det
13	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 fossils	case
15	fossils	fossil	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 use	nmod
16	in	in	ADP	_	18 dating	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 dating	det
18	dating	dating	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 fossils	nmod
19	of	of	ADP	_	20 rocks	case
20	rocks	rock	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 dating	nmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	is	present	the response		with the established facts; consistent property	tree rules
3	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the use of fossils in the dating of rocks		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus use=Experiencer
5	use			fossils in the dating of rocks		nom use «act transitive»: of=patient
6	date			rocks		nom dating «act 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 size of a fossil is proportional to its age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 size	det
2	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 proportional	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 fossil	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 fossil	det
5	fossil	fossil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 size	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 proportional	cop
7	proportional	proportional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 age	case
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 age	nmod:poss
10	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 proportional	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the size of a fossil				to size's age	proportional property	tree rules

Option 2

All fossils bear an inscription of the year of death

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 fossils	det
2	fossils	fossil	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 bear	nsubj
3	bear	bear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 inscription	det
5	inscription	inscription	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 bear	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 year	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 year	det
8	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 inscription	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 death	case
10	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 year	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bear	present	all fossils	a inscription of the year of death					vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent inscription=Patient
2	inscribe			the year of death					nom inscription «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Species of brief duration but wide distribution permit rocks to be correlated in age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 duration	case
3	brief	brief	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 duration	amod
4	duration	duration	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Species	nmod
5	but	but	CCONJ	_	9 rocks	cc
6	wide	wide	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 rocks	amod
7	distribution	distribution	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 permit	compound
8	permit	permit	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 rocks	compound
9	rocks	rock	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Species	conj
10	to	to	PART	_	12 correlated	mark
11	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	12 correlated	aux:pass
12	correlated	correlate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Species	advcl
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 age	case
14	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 correlated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	correlate	to-infinitive · passive					in age		vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V»

Option 4

Fossils are invariably situated at an identical depth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fossils	fossil	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 situated	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 situated	aux:pass
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	4 situated	advmod
4	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	8 depth	case
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 depth	det
7	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 depth	amod
8	depth	depth	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	situate	present · passive		Fossils		a identical depth		invariably property	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme at depth=Destination

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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