Exam question 1 · Deserts, rainforests and grasslands

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a desert?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: desert

This is exam question 1 of lesson 66 «Deserts, rainforests and grasslands» 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	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	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 desert	det
10	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	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		a desert				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 · ← Mova's choice

A region invariably hot both by day and by night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 region	det
2	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 hot	nsubj
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	4 hot	advmod
4	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	both	both	ADV	_	4 hot	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 day	case
7	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 hot	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 night	cc
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 night	case
10	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 day	conj

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

Option 2

A region with more species than any other biome

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 region	det
2	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	5 species	case
4	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 species	amod
5	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 region	nmod
6	than	than	ADP	_	9 biome	case
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	9 biome	det
8	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 biome	amod
9	biome	biome	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 region	nmod

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

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A region receiving less than about 250 millimetres of rain a year

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 region	det
2	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	receiving	receive	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 region	acl
4	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp ExtPos=ADV	7 250	advmod
5	than	than	ADP	_	4 less	fixed
6	about	about	ADV	_	7 250	advmod
7	250	250	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	8 millimetres	nummod
8	millimetres	millimetre	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 receiving	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 rain	case
10	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 millimetres	nmod
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 year	det
12	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 receiving	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive	gerund	a region not said here	250 millimetres of rain			year		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent millimetre=Theme

Option 4

A region invariably covered in sand dunes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 region	det
2	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 covered	nsubj:pass
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	4 covered	advmod
4	covered	cover	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 dunes	case
6	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 dunes	compound
7	dunes	dune	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 covered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cover	participle · passive		a region				in sand dunes; invariably property	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination in dune=Theme

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/world/66-deserts-rainforests-grasslands/e1/