Exam question 2 · Snow, ice and strong sun

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises icicles?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: icicles

This is exam question 2 of lesson 234 «Snow, ice and strong sun» 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	icicles	icicle	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
10	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		icicles				of the following statements; accurately property	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

They are soft and harmless when they fall

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	3 soft	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 soft	cop
3	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 harmless	cc
5	harmless	harmless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 soft	conj
6	when	when	SCONJ	_	8 fall	mark
7	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 fall	nsubj
8	fall	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 soft	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	They	soft property	tree rules
2	be		They not said here		tree rules
3	fall	present	they		vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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

They are heavy and sharp, and one does not stand beneath them

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	3 heavy	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 heavy	cop
3	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 sharp	cc
5	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 heavy	conj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 stand	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 stand	cc
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 stand	nsubj
9	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 stand	aux
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 stand	advmod
11	stand	stand	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 heavy	conj
12	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	13 them	case
13	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 stand	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	They	heavy property	tree rules
2	be		They not said here		tree rules
3	not stand	present · do-support	one	beneath them = they	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beneath they=Location

Option 3

They are safe to eat directly from roofs

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	3 safe	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 safe	cop
3	safe	safe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 eat	mark
5	eat	eat	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 safe	xcomp
6	directly	directly	ADV	_	5 eat	advmod
7	from	from	ADP	_	8 roofs	case
8	roofs	roof	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 eat	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	They					safe property	tree rules
2	eat	to-infinitive	They not said here			roofs		directly property	vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from roof=Source

Option 4

They may be knocked down safely with a stick by standing beneath them

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	4 knocked	nsubj:pass
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 knocked	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 knocked	aux:pass
4	knocked	knock	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	down	down	ADP	_	4 knocked	compound:prt
6	safely	safely	ADV	_	4 knocked	advmod
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 stick	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 stick	det
9	stick	stick	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 knocked	obl
10	by	by	SCONJ	_	11 standing	mark
11	standing	stand	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 knocked	advcl
12	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	13 them	case
13	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 standing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	knock down	may · passive		They				with a stick; safely property	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with stick=Instrument
2	stand	gerund						beneath them = they	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beneath they=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.

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