Exam question 1 · Browning apples, rotting and mould

Identify the principal reason for which a cut apple turns brown upon exposure to air.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, cut apple · What happens: identify, turn · To what, where: principal reason, exposure

This is exam question 1 of lesson 23 «Browning apples, rotting and mould» 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	Identify	identify	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 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 turns	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 apple	det
8	cut	cut	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 apple	amod
9	apple	apple	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 turns	nsubj
10	turns	turn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
11	brown	brown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 turns	xcomp
12	upon	upon	ADP	_	13 exposure	case
13	exposure	exposure	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 turns	obl
14	to	to	ADP	_	15 air	case
15	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 turns	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	turn	present	a cut apple			exposure		for the principal reason; to air; brown property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme upon exposure=Source to air=Trajectory

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

It absorbs dust and pollutants from the atmosphere

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 absorbs	nsubj
2	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	dust	dust	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 pollutants	cc
5	pollutants	pollutant	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 dust	conj
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 atmosphere	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 atmosphere	det
8	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	It	dust and pollutants		the atmosphere			vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Goal dust=Theme from atmosphere=Source

Option 2

Mould spores colonise it within minutes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mould	mould	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 spores	compound
2	spores	spore	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 colonise	nsubj
3	colonise	colonise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 colonise	obj
5	within	within	ADP	_	6 minutes	case
6	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 colonise	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	colonise	present	Mould spores	it			minute		tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Its chemicals react with oxygen, assisted by an enzyme

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 chemicals	nmod:poss
2	chemicals	chemical	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 react	nsubj
3	react	react	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	5 oxygen	case
5	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 react	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 assisted	punct
7	assisted	assist	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 react	advcl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 enzyme	case
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 enzyme	det
10	enzyme	enzyme	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 assisted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	react	present	Its chemicals					with oxygen	vn respond-113 «NP V PP.predicate»: agent=Agent with oxygen=Eventuality
2	assist	participle	Its chemicals not said here					by a enzyme	vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Light causes the flesh to burn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 causes	nsubj
2	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 flesh	det
4	flesh	flesh	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 causes	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 burn	mark
6	burn	burn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 causes	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present	Light	the flesh					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition flesh=Patient
2	burn	to-infinitive	Light not said here						vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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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