Exam question 2 · Soil and what lives in it

Identify the function performed by decomposers such as fungi, bacteria and earthworms.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, perform · To what, where: function

This is exam question 2 of lesson 63 «Soil and what lives in it» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 function	det
3	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 function	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 decomposers	case
6	decomposers	decomposer	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 performed	obl
7	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	9 fungi	case
8	as	as	ADP	_	7 such	fixed
9	fungi	fungus	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 decomposers	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 bacteria	punct
11	bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 fungi	conj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 earthworms	cc
13	earthworms	earthworm	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 fungi	conj
14	.	.	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 function					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=Theme
2	perform	participle		the function not said here				by decomposers such fungi and bacteria and earthworms	vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: 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

They manufacture soil from solid rock within a single day

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 manufacture	nsubj
2	manufacture	manufacture	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 manufacture	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 rock	case
5	solid	solid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 rock	amod
6	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 manufacture	obl
7	within	within	ADP	_	10 day	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 day	det
9	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 day	amod
10	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 manufacture	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	manufacture	present	They	soil		solid rock	day		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent soil=Result from rock=Material

Option 2

They remove all air and water from the soil

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 remove	nsubj
2	remove	remove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 air	det
4	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 remove	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 water	cc
6	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 air	conj
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 soil	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 soil	det
9	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 remove	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remove	present	They	all air and water		the soil			vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent air=Theme from soil=Source

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

They break down dead matter and return nutrients to the soil

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 break	nsubj
2	break	break	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	down	down	ADP	_	2 break	compound:prt
4	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 matter	amod
5	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 break	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 return	cc
7	return	return	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 break	conj
8	nutrients	nutrient	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 return	obj
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 soil	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 soil	det
11	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 return	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	break down	present	They	dead matter					vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent matter=Patient
2	return	present	They not said here	nutrients		the soil			vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent nutrient=Theme to soil=Destination

Option 4

They consume the roots of living plants exclusively and nothing else

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 consume	nsubj
2	consume	consume	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 roots	det
4	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 consume	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 plants	case
6	living	living	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 plants	amod
7	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 roots	nmod
8	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 consume	advmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 nothing	cc
10	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	2 consume	conj
11	else	else	ADV	_	10 nothing	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present	They	the roots of living plants				exclusively property	vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent root=Asset

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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