Exam question 4 · The air we breathe

Ascertain the reason for which mountaineers at very high altitude frequently carry oxygen.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, reason · What happens: ascertain, mountaineer, carry · To what, where: reason, high altitude, oxygen

This is exam question 4 of lesson 33 «The air we breathe» 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	6 mountaineers	nsubj
6	mountaineers	mountaineer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl:relcl
7	at	at	ADP	_	10 altitude	case
8	very	very	ADV	_	9 high	advmod
9	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 altitude	amod
10	altitude	altitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 mountaineers	obl
11	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	12 carry	advmod
12	carry	carry	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 mountaineers	advcl
13	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 carry	obj
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	mountaineer	present	the reason		high altitude		tree rules
3	carry	present	the reason not said here	oxygen		frequently property	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oxygen=Theme

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

The air at altitude is entirely absent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 air	det
2	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 absent	nsubj
3	at	at	ADP	_	4 altitude	case
4	altitude	altitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 air	nmod
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 absent	cop
6	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	7 absent	advmod
7	absent	absent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the air at altitude					absent, entirely property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Each breath contains less oxygen in the thinner air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 breath	det
2	breath	breath	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 contains	nsubj
3	contains	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 oxygen	amod
5	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 contains	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 air	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 air	det
8	thinner	thin	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	9 air	amod
9	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 contains	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	present	each breath	less oxygen		the thinner air			vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent oxygen=Value in air=Location

Option 3

The air at altitude is poisonous

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 air	det
2	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 poisonous	nsubj
3	at	at	ADP	_	4 altitude	case
4	altitude	altitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 air	nmod
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 poisonous	cop
6	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the air at altitude					poisonous property	tree rules

Option 4

Oxygen freezes at high altitude

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 freezes	nsubj
2	freezes	freeze	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	at	at	ADP	_	5 altitude	case
4	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 altitude	amod
5	altitude	altitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 freezes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	freeze	present	Oxygen			high altitude			vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

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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