Exam question 4 · Changes you can undo and changes you can't

It is given that bubbles are observed in a liquid. Determine whether this observation alone establishes that a chemical change has occurred.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, observation, chemical change · What happens: give, observe, determine, establish, occur · To what, where: It, bubbles, liquid

This is exam question 4 of lesson 9 «Changes you can undo and changes you can't» 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

Sentence 1: It is given that bubbles are observed in a liquid.

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	3 given	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 given	aux:pass
3	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 observed	mark
5	bubbles	bubble	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 observed	nsubj:pass
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 observed	aux:pass
7	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 given	advcl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 liquid	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 liquid	det
10	liquid	liquid	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 observed	obl
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 given	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present · passive		It					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	observe	present · passive		bubbles		a liquid			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic

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.

Sentence 2: Determine whether this observation alone establishes that a chemical change has occurred.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	6 establishes	mark
3	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 observation	det
4	observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 establishes	nsubj
5	alone	alone	ADV	_	4 observation	advmod
6	establishes	establish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Determine	advcl
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 occurred	mark
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 change	det
9	chemical	chemical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 change	amod
10	change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 occurred	nsubj
11	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 occurred	aux
12	occurred	occur	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	6 establishes	advcl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	establish	present	this observation	vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	occur	present · perfect	a chemical change	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

The options

Option 1

It does, provided the liquid is water

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 does	nsubj
2	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 provided	punct
4	provided	provide	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 does	ccomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 liquid	det
6	liquid	liquid	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 water	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 water	cop
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 provided	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	do	present	It		tree rules
2	provide	past			vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition
3	is a	present	the liquid	water	tree rules

Option 2

It does, in all cases without exception, bubbles being proof of a new substance

The tree, 14 words

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 does	nsubj
2	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 cases	punct
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 cases	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 cases	det
6	cases	case	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 does	obl
7	without	without	ADP	_	8 exception	case
8	exception	exception	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 cases	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 proof	punct
10	bubbles	bubble	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 proof	nsubj
11	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 proof	cop
12	proof	proof	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 exception	conj
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 substance	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 substance	det
15	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 substance	amod
16	substance	substance	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 proof	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	present	It			all cases without exception and proof			vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	is a	gerund	bubbles	proof				of a new substance	tree rules

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

It does not, since boiling water bubbles without forming a new substance

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 does	nsubj
2	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	2 does	advmod
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 boiling	punct
5	since	since	SCONJ	_	6 boiling	mark
6	boiling	boil	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 does	advcl
7	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 bubbles	compound
8	bubbles	bubble	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 boiling	obj
9	without	without	SCONJ	_	10 forming	mark
10	forming	form	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 boiling	advcl
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 substance	det
12	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 substance	amod
13	substance	substance	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 forming	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	not do	present	It		vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	boil	gerund		water bubbles	vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent bubble=Patient
3	form	gerund		a new substance	vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location substance=Theme

Option 4

It does, provided the vessel is metal

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 does	nsubj
2	does	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 provided	punct
4	provided	provide	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 does	ccomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 vessel	det
6	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 metal	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 metal	cop
8	metal	metal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 provided	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	do	present	It		tree rules
2	provide	past			vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition
3	is a	present	the vessel	metal	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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