---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Goldfish and pond fish: the three-seco… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the memory of the goldfish? Exam question 1 of lesson 204 «Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option;
---

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# Exam question 1 · Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the memory of the goldfish?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** memory

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 204 «Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth» 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/204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the memory of the goldfish?
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	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	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 memory of the goldfish |  |  |  | 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 -->
Goldfish possess no capacity for memory

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:e1:o1:1
# text = Goldfish possess no capacity for memory
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	capacity	capacity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | Goldfish | no capacity |  |  |  | for memory | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot capacity=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Goldfish retain information for three seconds only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:e1:o2:1
# text = Goldfish retain information for three seconds only
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	retain	retain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	information	information	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retain** | present | Goldfish | information |  |  | second |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Goldfish are capable of learning tasks and retaining them for months

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:e1:o3:1
# text = Goldfish are capable of learning tasks and retaining them for months
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	capable	capable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	learning	learning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	tasks	task	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	retaining	retain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Goldfish |  |  |  |  | of learning tasks; capable *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **retain** | gerund | Goldfish *not said here* | Goldfish |  |  | month |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Goldfish recollect solely their own name

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:e1:o4:1
# text = Goldfish recollect solely their own name
1	Goldfish	goldfish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	recollect	recollect	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recollect** | present | Goldfish | Goldfish's own name |  |  |  | solely *property* | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent name=Theme |
| 2 | **name** |  | Goldfish |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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**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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- ← previous: [Goldfish and pond fish: the three-seco…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth/t12/)
- next →: [Goldfish and pond fish: the three-seco…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth/)