Exam question 4 · Fire, fireworks, garden dangers and the bathroom

Ascertain the principal function of smoke alarms in the home.

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

This is exam question 4 of lesson 219 «Fire, fireworks, garden dangers and the bathroom» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 alarms	case
6	smoke	smoke	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 alarms	compound
7	alarms	alarm	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 function	nmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 home	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 home	det
10	home	home	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 alarms	nmod
11	.	.	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 principal function of smoke alarms in the home					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

They prevent fires from starting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 prevent	nsubj
2	prevent	prevent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	fires	fire	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 prevent	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 starting	case
5	starting	starting	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prevent	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevent	present	They	fires		starting			vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer fire=Beneficiary from starting=Eventuality

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They provide the minutes needed for escape

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 provide	nsubj
2	provide	provide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 minutes	det
4	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 needed	nsubj
5	needed	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 provide	ccomp
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 escape	case
7	escape	escape	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 needed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	provide	present	They						vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition clause=Theme
2	need	past	the minutes					for escape	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot

Option 3

They extinguish fires automatically

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 extinguish	nsubj
2	extinguish	extinguish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	fires	fire	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 extinguish	obj
4	automatically	automatically	ADV	_	2 extinguish	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	extinguish	present	They	fires				automatically property	vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent fire=Patient

Option 4

They summon the fire brigade by themselves

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 summon	nsubj
2	summon	summon	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 brigade	det
4	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 brigade	compound
5	brigade	brigade	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 summon	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 themselves	case
7	themselves	themselves	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 summon	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	summon	present	They	the fire brigade				by themselves = they	vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brigade=Recipient

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/219-fire-fireworks-tools-and-the-bathroom/e4/