Exam question 3 · Traffic lights, crossings and road signs

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the spinning cone beneath a UK crossing box.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, spin · To what, where: response, spinning cone

This is exam question 3 of lesson 267 «Traffic lights, crossings and road signs» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 cone	det
11	spinning	spin	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 cone	amod
12	cone	cone	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
13	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	17 box	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 box	det
15	UK	UK	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 box	compound
16	crossing	crossing	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 box	compound
17	box	box	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 cone	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the spinning cone	beneath a UK crossing box	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus cone=Experiencer
4	spin	gerund				vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

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 shows the speed of cars

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 shows	nsubj
2	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 speed	det
4	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shows	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 cars	case
6	cars	car	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 speed	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	present	It	the speed of cars					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent speed=Recipient

Option 2

It is a decoration without function

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 decoration	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 decoration	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 decoration	det
4	decoration	decoration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	without	without	ADP	_	6 function	case
6	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 decoration	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a decoration				without function	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It spins when cars approach, warning pedestrians to stay back

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 spins	nsubj
2	spins	spin	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	5 approach	advmod
4	cars	car	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 approach	nsubj
5	approach	approach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 spins	ccomp
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 warning	punct
7	warning	warn	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 spins	advcl
8	pedestrians	pedestrian	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 warning	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 stay	mark
10	stay	stay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 warning	xcomp
11	back	back	ADV	_	10 stay	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	spin	present	It		tree rules
2	approach	present	cars		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	warn speech: warn	gerund		pedestrians	vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: agent=Agent pedestrian=Recipient clause=Topic
4	stay back	to-infinitive	pedestrians not said here		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It spins when it is safe, to assist deafblind persons

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 spins	nsubj
2	spins	spin	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	when	when	SCONJ	_	6 safe	mark
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 safe	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 safe	cop
6	safe	safe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 spins	advcl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 assist	punct
8	to	to	PART	_	9 assist	mark
9	assist	assist	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 spins	advcl
10	deafblind	deafblind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 persons	amod
11	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 assist	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	to whom	other	roles by
1	spin	present	It			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme
2	is	present	it		safe property	tree rules
3	assist	to-infinitive		deafblind persons		vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent person=Beneficiary

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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