Exam question 4 · Rust: iron's slow fire

Ascertain the principal reason for which rusting, once commenced, proceeds into the depth of the metal.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, commence, proceed · To what, where: principal reason, depth

This is exam question 4 of lesson 13 «Rust: iron's slow fire» of the chemistry 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 rusting	case
6	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	7 rusting	det
7	rusting	rusting	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 commenced	punct
9	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	10 commenced	advmod
10	commenced	commence	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	parataxis
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 proceeds	punct
12	proceeds	proceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	parataxis
13	into	into	ADP	_	15 depth	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 depth	det
15	depth	depth	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 proceeds	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 metal	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 metal	det
18	metal	metal	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 depth	nmod
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		for which rusting	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition reason=Theme for rusting=Beneficiary
2	commence	participle				once property	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	proceed	present			the depth of the metal		vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent

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

The rust dissolves the paint on other surfaces

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rust	det
2	rust	rust	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dissolves	nsubj
3	dissolves	dissolve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 paint	det
5	paint	paint	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dissolves	obj
6	on	on	ADP	_	8 surfaces	case
7	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 surfaces	amod
8	surfaces	surface	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 dissolves	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dissolve	present	the rust	the paint		other surfaces			vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paint=Patient

Option 2

The rust attracts magnets that tear the metal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rust	det
2	rust	rust	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 attracts	nsubj
3	attracts	attract	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	magnets	magnet	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 attracts	obj
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 tear	nsubj
6	tear	tear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 magnets	acl:relcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 metal	det
8	metal	metal	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 tear	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attract	present	the rust	magnets					vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent magnet=Patient
2	tear	present	magnets	the metal					vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location metal=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The rust flakes away and exposes fresh iron

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rust	det
2	rust	rust	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 flakes	nsubj
3	flakes	flake	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	away	away	ADV	_	3 flakes	advmod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 exposes	cc
6	exposes	expose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 flakes	conj
7	fresh	fresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 iron	amod
8	iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 exposes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flake away	present	the rust					away property	vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	expose	present	the rust not said here	fresh iron					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot iron=Topic

Option 4

The rust conducts heat into the metal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rust	det
2	rust	rust	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conducts	nsubj
3	conducts	conduct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conducts	obj
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 metal	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 metal	det
7	metal	metal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conducts	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conduct	present	the rust	heat		the metal			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent heat=Theme into metal=Destination

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/chemistry/13-rust-irons-slow-fire/e4/