Exam question 2 · Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature

Identify the principal function of decomposers within an ecosystem.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify · To what, where: principal function

This is exam question 2 of lesson 53 «Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature» of the religion ethics 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 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 decomposers	case
6	decomposers	decomposer	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 function	nmod
7	within	within	ADP	_	9 ecosystem	case
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 ecosystem	det
9	ecosystem	ecosystem	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal function of decomposers				within a ecosystem	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme

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 production of light for the growth of plants in the shade

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 production	det
2	production	production	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 light	case
4	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 production	nmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 growth	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 growth	det
7	growth	growth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 production	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 plants	case
9	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 growth	nmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 shade	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 shade	det
12	shade	shade	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 plants	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce			light				for the growth of plants in the shade	nom production «act transitive»: of=patient for=obl
2	grow		plants in the shade						nom growth «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The hunting and killing of large mammals for food by night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 hunting	det
2	hunting	hunting	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 killing	cc
4	killing	killing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hunting	conj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 mammals	case
6	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 mammals	amod
7	mammals	mammal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 hunting	nmod
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 food	case
9	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 mammals	nmod
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 night	case
11	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hunting	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hunt		night	large mammals for food					nom hunting «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent

Option 3

The prevention of all decay in nature so that nothing rots

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 prevention	det
2	prevention	prevention	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 rots	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 decay	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 decay	det
5	decay	decay	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prevention	nmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 nature	case
7	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 decay	nmod
8	so	so	SCONJ	_	10 nothing	case
9	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	10 nothing	det
10	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	2 prevention	nmod
11	rots	rot	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rot	present	the prevention of all decay in nature so nothing						vn entity_specific_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	prevent			all decay in nature				so nothing	nom prevention «act transitive»: of=patient so=obl

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The conversion of dead organic matter into soil nutrients

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 conversion	det
2	conversion	conversion	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 matter	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 organic	case
4	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 organic	amod
5	organic	organic	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conversion	nmod
6	matter	matter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	into	into	ADP	_	9 nutrients	case
8	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 nutrients	compound
9	nutrients	nutrient	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 matter	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	matter	present	the conversion of dead organic			soil nutrients			vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus
2	convert			dead organic					nom conversion «event transitive»: of=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/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/e2/