Exam question 4 · Alkalis and soda, and how they cancel acids

Ascertain the reason for which the flowers of a hydrangea become blue in certain gardens.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, flowers · What happens: ascertain, become · To what, where: reason

This is exam question 4 of lesson 16 «Alkalis and soda, and how they cancel acids» 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	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 become	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 flowers	det
7	flowers	flower	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 become	nsubj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 hydrangea	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 hydrangea	det
10	hydrangea	hydrangea	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 flowers	nmod
11	become	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl:relcl
12	blue	blue	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 become	xcomp
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 gardens	case
14	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 gardens	amod
15	gardens	garden	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 blue	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	become	present	the flowers of a hydrangea					for the reason; blue property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

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 plant is watered with coloured solutions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 plant	det
2	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 watered	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 watered	aux:pass
4	watered	water	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 solutions	case
6	coloured	coloured	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 solutions	amod
7	solutions	solution	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 watered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	water	present · passive		the plant				with coloured solutions	vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with solution=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

In acidic soil the plant absorbs aluminium

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 soil	case
2	acidic	acidic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 soil	amod
3	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absorbs	obl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 plant	det
5	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absorbs	nsubj
6	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	aluminium	aluminium	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absorbs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	the plant	aluminium		acidic soil			vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal aluminium=Theme

Option 3

In alkaline soil the plant absorbs copper

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 soil	case
2	alkaline	alkaline	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 soil	amod
3	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absorbs	obl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 plant	det
5	plant	plant	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absorbs	nsubj
6	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	copper	copper	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 absorbs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	the plant	copper		alkaline soil			vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal copper=Theme

Option 4

The flowers reflect the colour of the sky

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 flowers	det
2	flowers	flower	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 reflect	nsubj
3	reflect	reflect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 colour	det
5	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reflect	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 sky	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sky	det
8	sky	sky	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 colour	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reflect	present	the flowers	the colour of the sky					tree rules

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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