---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the reports of man-eating trees in Madagascar published during the nineteenth century? Exam question 3 of lesson 254 «Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that count, slip and suck» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that count, slip and suck

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the reports of man-eating trees in Madagascar published during the nineteenth century?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** reports · **What happens:** follow, characteris, eat, publish, report · **To what, where:** eating trees

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 254 «Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that count, slip and suck» 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/254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:e3:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the reports of man-eating trees in Madagascar published during the nineteenth century?
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	reports	report	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	amod	_	_
15	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Madagascar	Madagascar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	published	publish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
19	during	during	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	nineteenth	nineteenth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	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 |  |  |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **eat** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **publish** | past | the reports of eating trees in Madagascar |  |  |  | century |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **report** |  |  | eating trees in Madagascar |  |  |  |  | nom report «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were a hoax without foundation in fact

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:e3:o1:1
# text = They were a hoax without foundation in fact
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	hoax	hoax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	without	without	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	foundation	foundation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | They | a hoax |  | fact |  | without foundation | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They described a species now extinct

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:e3:o2:1
# text = They described a species now extinct
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	described	describe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	species	species	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
6	extinct	extinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | past | They | a species |  |  |  | extinct *property* | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent species=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were accurate accounts of giant pitcher plants

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:e3:o3:1
# text = They were accurate accounts of giant pitcher plants
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	accurate	accurate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	accounts	account	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	pitcher	pitcher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | They | accurate accounts |  |  |  | of giant pitcher plants | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They referred to a carnivorous fungus

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck:e3:o4:1
# text = They referred to a carnivorous fungus
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	referred	refer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	carnivorous	carnivorous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	fungus	fungus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **refer** | past | They |  |  |  |  | to a carnivorous fungus | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to fungus=Co-Theme |

<!-- 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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- ← previous: [Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck/e2/)
- next →: [Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Plants deeper: carnivorous plants that count, slip and suck](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/254-plants-deeper-carnivorous-plants-that-count-slip-and-suck/)