Exam question 3 · Deep time and the story of life

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Cambrian explosion?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: Cambrian explosion

This is exam question 3 of lesson 58 «Deep time and the story of life» 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 explosion	det
10	Cambrian	Cambrian	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 explosion	compound
11	explosion	explosion	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the Cambrian explosion				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

The impact of an asteroid upon Mexico

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 impact	det
2	impact	impact	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 asteroid	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 asteroid	det
5	asteroid	asteroid	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 impact	nmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 Mexico	case
7	Mexico	Mexico	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 impact	nmod

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

Option 2

The first appearance of oxygen within the atmosphere

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 appearance	det
2	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	3 appearance	amod
3	appearance	appearance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 oxygen	case
5	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 appearance	nmod
6	within	within	ADP	_	8 atmosphere	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 atmosphere	det
8	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 appearance	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The comparatively rapid appearance of numerous animal groups possessing shells, eyes and limbs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 appearance	det
2	comparatively	comparatively	ADV	_	3 rapid	advmod
3	rapid	rapid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 appearance	amod
4	appearance	appearance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 groups	case
6	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 groups	amod
7	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 groups	compound
8	groups	group	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 appearance	nmod
9	possessing	possess	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 shells	amod
10	shells	shell	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 groups	conj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 eyes	punct
12	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 groups	conj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 limbs	cc
14	limbs	limb	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 groups	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	gerund							vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The volcanic eruption which extinguished the dinosaurs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 eruption	det
2	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 eruption	amod
3	eruption	eruption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 extinguished	nsubj
5	extinguished	extinguish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 eruption	acl:relcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 dinosaurs	det
7	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 extinguished	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	extinguish	past	the volcanic eruption	the dinosaurs					vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent dinosaur=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/geography/58-deep-time-and-the-story-of-life/e3/