Exam question 4 · Snow, ice and strong sun

Ascertain the reason for which a magnifying glass is never pointed at anything in sunlight.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, magnify, not point · To what, where: reason, magnifying glass, anything

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 pointed	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 glass	det
7	magnifying	magnify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 glass	amod
8	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 pointed	nsubj:pass
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 pointed	aux:pass
10	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	11 pointed	advmod
11	pointed	point	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
12	at	at	ADP	_	13 anything	case
13	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	11 pointed	obl
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 sunlight	case
15	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 anything	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	magnify	gerund					vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	not point	present · passive		a magnifying glass	anything	for the reason	vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

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 makes the glass shatter into many sharp pieces at once

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 makes	nsubj
2	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 shatter	det
4	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 shatter	compound
5	shatter	shatter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 makes	obj
6	into	into	ADP	_	9 pieces	case
7	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 pieces	amod
8	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 pieces	amod
9	pieces	piece	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 makes	obl
10	at	at	ADP	_	11 once	case
11	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	2 makes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	present	It	the glass shatter		many sharp pieces			vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent shatter=Material into piece=Product

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

It focuses sunlight into a spot hot enough to start a fire

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 focuses	nsubj
2	focuses	focus	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 focuses	obj
4	into	into	ADP	_	6 spot	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 spot	det
6	spot	spot	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 focuses	obl
7	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 spot	amod
8	enough	enough	ADV	_	7 hot	advmod
9	to	to	PART	_	10 start	mark
10	start	start	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 hot	advcl
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 fire	det
12	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 start	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	focus	present	It	sunlight		a spot			tree rules
2	start	to-infinitive		a fire					vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Eventuality

Option 3

It makes objects permanently larger

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 makes	nsubj
2	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	objects	object	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 makes	obj
4	permanently	permanently	ADV	_	2 makes	advmod
5	larger	large	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 makes	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	present	It	objects				large, permanently property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material object=Product

Option 4

It dims the sunlight so much that the eyes are harmed

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 dims	nsubj
2	dims	dim	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 sunlight	det
4	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 dims	obj
5	so	so	ADV	_	6 much	advmod
6	much	much	ADV	_	2 dims	advmod
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 harmed	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 eyes	det
9	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 harmed	nsubj:pass
10	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 harmed	aux:pass
11	harmed	harm	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 dims	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dim	present	It	the sunlight					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent sunlight=Patient
2	harm	present · passive		the eyes					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer

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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