Exam question 4 · Balance in a food web

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the return of wolves to Yellowstone Park.

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

This is exam question 4 of lesson 30 «Balance in a food web» of the world 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 return	det
13	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 wolves	case
15	wolves	wolf	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 return	nmod
16	to	to	ADP	_	18 Park	case
17	Yellowstone	Yellowstone	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 Park	compound
18	Park	Park	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 return	nmod
19	.	.	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 return of wolves	to Yellowstone Park	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus return=Experiencer
5	return		wolves		to Yellowstone Park	nom return «communication intransitive»: of=agent to=obl

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 wolves consumed the trees

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wolves	det
2	wolves	wolf	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 consumed	nsubj
3	consumed	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 trees	det
5	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 consumed	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	past	the wolves	the trees					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Asset

Option 2

The deer increased and the trees perished along the riverbanks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 deer	det
2	deer	deer	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 increased	nsubj
3	increased	increase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 trees	cc
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 trees	det
6	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 increased	obj
7	perished	perish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 trees	acl
8	along	along	ADP	_	10 riverbanks	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 riverbanks	det
10	riverbanks	riverbank	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 perished	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	past	the deer	the trees					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer tree=Patient
2	perish	participle		the trees not said here				along the riverbanks	vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The deer were reduced and the riverside trees recovered

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 deer	det
2	deer	deer	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 reduced	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reduced	aux:pass
4	reduced	reduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 recovered	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 trees	det
7	riverside	riverside	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 trees	compound
8	trees	tree	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 recovered	nsubj
9	recovered	recover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reduced	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reduce	past · passive		the deer					vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	recover	past	the riverside trees						vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The rivers dried up entirely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rivers	det
2	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	dried	dry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 rivers	acl
4	up	up	ADP	_	3 dried	compound:prt
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	3 dried	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dry up	participle		the rivers not said here				entirely property	vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=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.

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