---
title: Identify the purpose of a control group in an experiment. — Being a scientist — fair tests, guesse… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the purpose of a control group in an experiment. Exam question 2 of lesson 91 «Being a scientist — fair tests, guesses and evidence» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Exam question 2 · Being a scientist — fair tests, guesses and evidence

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the purpose of a control group in an experiment.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, control group · **What happens:** identify, purpose · **To what, where:** purpose, experiment

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This is exam question 2 of lesson 91 «Being a scientist — fair tests, guesses and evidence» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/world/91-being-a-scientist/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:91-being-a-scientist:e2:1
# text = Identify the purpose of a control group in an experiment.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	control	control	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	group	group	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	experiment	experiment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the purpose of a control group |  | a experiment |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent purpose=Theme |
| 2 | **purpose** |  | a control group |  |  |  |  |  | nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It decides the prediction to be tested

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:91-being-a-scientist:e2:o1:1
# text = It decides the prediction to be tested
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	decides	decide	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	prediction	prediction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	tested	test	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decide** | present | It | the prediction |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent prediction=Topic |
| 2 | **test** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP» |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It records the results on behalf of others

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:91-being-a-scientist:e2:o2:1
# text = It records the results on behalf of others
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	records	record	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	results	result	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	behalf	behalf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **record** | present | It | the results |  | behalf of others |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent result=Theme on behalf=Destination |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is kept without the change so the results may be compared

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:91-being-a-scientist:e2:o3:1
# text = It is kept without the change so the results may be compared
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	without	without	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	results	result	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	compared	compare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  | without the change | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **compare** | may · passive |  | the results |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It receives the greatest amount of the change under examination

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:91-being-a-scientist:e2:o4:1
# text = It receives the greatest amount of the change under examination
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	receives	receive	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	amount	amount	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	under	under	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	examination	examination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **receive** | present | It | the greatest amount of the change under examination |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent amount=Theme |
| 2 | **amount** |  |  | the change under examination |  |  |  |  | nom amount «possession transitive»: of=patient |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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