---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — The Galápagos: giant tortoises, sea ig… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the variation in the beaks of Darwin's finches? Exam question 2 of lesson 180 «The Galápagos: giant tortoises, sea iguanas, Darwin's finches and tame sea lions» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree an
---

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# Exam question 2 · The Galápagos: giant tortoises, sea iguanas, Darwin's finc…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the variation in the beaks of Darwin's finches?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** variation, beaks

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 180 «The Galápagos: giant tortoises, sea iguanas, Darwin's finches and tame sea lions» of the biology 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the variation in the beaks of Darwin's finches?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	variation	variation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	beaks	beak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	Darwin	Darwin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	finches	finch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | 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 variation |  | the beaks of Darwin's finches |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each bird alters its beak at will

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions:e2:o1:1
# text = Each bird alters its beak at will
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	alters	alter	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	beak	beak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **alter** | present | each bird | bird's beak |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent beak=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All finches possess identical beaks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions:e2:o2:1
# text = All finches possess identical beaks
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	finches	finch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	identical	identical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	beaks	beak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | all finches | identical beaks |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot beak=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The beaks were modified by sailors

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions:e2:o3:1
# text = The beaks were modified by sailors
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	beaks	beak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	modified	modify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **modify** | past · passive | sailors | the beaks |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Beaks are adapted to different foods, through the survival of the best-suited birds over generations

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions:e2:o4:1
# text = Beaks are adapted to different foods, through the survival of the best-suited birds over generations
1	Beaks	beak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	adapted	adapt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	foods	food	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	survival	survival	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
13	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	suited	suit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	amod	_	_
16	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
17	over	over	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	generations	generation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **adapt** | present · passive |  | Beaks |  | the survival of the suited birds | over generations | to different foods *goal* | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Patient to food=Goal |
| 2 | **suit** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **survive** |  |  | the suited birds |  |  |  |  | nom survival «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

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