Exam question 1 · Balance and falling well

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the condition under which a standing person retains balance?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: standing person · What happens: follow, characteris, retain · To what, where: condition, balance

This is exam question 1 of lesson 2 «Balance and falling well» of the everyday 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 condition	det
10	condition	condition	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	under	under	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 retains	obl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 person	det
14	standing	standing	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 person	compound
15	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 retains	nsubj
16	retains	retain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 condition	acl:relcl
17	balance	balance	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 retains	obj
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the condition		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	retain	present	a standing person	balance	the condition		tree rules

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 right answer

Balance is retained whilst the centre of gravity remains above the area enclosed by the feet

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Balance	balance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 retained	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 retained	aux:pass
3	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	6 centre	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 centre	det
6	centre	centre	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 retained	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 remains	case
8	gravity	gravity	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 remains	compound
9	remains	remains	NOUN	Number=Ptan	6 centre	nmod
10	above	above	ADP	_	12 area	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 area	det
12	area	area	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 remains	nmod
13	enclosed	enclose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 area	acl
14	by	by	ADP	_	16 feet	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 feet	det
16	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 enclosed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	present · passive		Balance				whilst the centre of gravity remains above the area	tree rules
2	enclose	participle		the area not said here				by the feet	vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme

Option 2

Balance is retained only whilst the feet are placed tightly together

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Balance	balance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 retained	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 retained	aux:pass
3	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	3 retained	advmod
5	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	9 placed	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 feet	det
7	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 placed	nsubj:pass
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 placed	aux:pass
9	placed	place	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 retained	advcl
10	tightly	tightly	ADV	_	9 placed	advmod
11	together	together	ADV	_	9 placed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	present · passive		Balance					tree rules
2	place	present · passive		the feet				tightly, together property	vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

Balance is retained solely whilst the eyes remain closed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Balance	balance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 retained	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 retained	aux:pass
3	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 retained	advmod
5	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	8 remain	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 eyes	det
7	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 remain	nsubj
8	remain	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 retained	advcl
9	closed	close	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 remain	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	retain	present · passive		Balance	solely property	tree rules
2	remain	present	the eyes			tree rules
3	close	participle	the eyes not said here			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

Balance is retained whenever the arms are held rigidly at the sides

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Balance	balance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 retained	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 retained	aux:pass
3	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	whenever	whenever	SCONJ	_	8 held	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 arms	det
6	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 held	nsubj:pass
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 held	aux:pass
8	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 retained	advcl
9	rigidly	rigidly	ADV	_	8 held	advmod
10	at	at	ADP	_	12 sides	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 sides	det
12	sides	side	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 held	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	present · passive		Balance					tree rules
2	hold	present · passive		the arms		the sides		rigidly property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme at side=Location

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/everyday/2-balance-and-falling-well/e1/