Exam question 2 · The sea, waves and swimming pools

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the holding of another person under water in play?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, hold · To what, where: water

This is exam question 2 of lesson 233 «The sea, waves and swimming pools» 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 holding	det
10	holding	hold	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 characterises	advcl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 person	case
12	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	13 person	det
13	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 holding	obl
14	under	under	ADP	_	15 water	case
15	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 holding	obl
16	in	in	ADP	_	17 play	case
17	play	play	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 holding	obl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	hold	gerund	water	of another person; in play	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under water=Location

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 strengthens a person's swimming and his ability to hold his breath

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 strengthens	nsubj
2	strengthens	strengthen	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 person	det
4	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 swimming	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 person	case
6	swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 strengthens	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 ability	cc
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 ability	nmod:poss
9	ability	ability	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 swimming	conj
10	to	to	PART	_	11 hold	mark
11	hold	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 ability	acl
12	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 breath	nmod:poss
13	breath	breath	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 hold	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	strengthen	present	It	a person's swimming and person's ability	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent swimming=Patient
2	hold	to-infinitive		person's breath	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent breath=Theme
3	swim		a person		nom swimming «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

It is acceptable in a shallow pool

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 acceptable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 acceptable	cop
3	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 pool	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 pool	det
6	shallow	shallow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 pool	amod
7	pool	pool	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 acceptable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It			a shallow pool		acceptable property	tree rules

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

It may cause him to strike the side, swallow water and drown

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 cause	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 cause	aux
3	cause	cause	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 cause	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 strike	mark
6	strike	strike	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 cause	xcomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 side	det
8	side	side	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 strike	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 swallow	punct
10	swallow	swallow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 cause	conj
11	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 swallow	obj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 drown	cc
13	drown	drown	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 swallow	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	cause	may	It	him = he	tree rules
2	strike	to-infinitive	him = he not said here	the side	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent side=Patient
3	swallow	infinitive		water	vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient
4	drown	infinitive			vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It is entirely harmless provided it is done only briefly

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	4 harmless	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 harmless	cop
3	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	4 harmless	advmod
4	harmless	harmless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	provided	provide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 harmless	conj
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 provided	obj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 done	aux:pass
8	done	do	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 harmless	conj
9	only	only	ADV	_	10 briefly	advmod
10	briefly	briefly	ADV	_	8 done	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	It		entirely, harmless property	tree rules
2	provide	past		it		vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition it=Theme
3	do	present · passive			briefly property	vn act-114-1 «NP V»

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/233-sea-and-pools/e2/