Exam question 1 · Railway crossings, maps and addresses

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the conduct required at a level crossing when the warning lights flash and the barriers descend?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: warning lights, barriers · What happens: follow, characteris, require, flash, descend · To what, where: conduct, level crossing

This is exam question 1 of lesson 275 «Railway crossings, maps and addresses» 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 conduct	det
10	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 conduct	acl
12	at	at	ADP	_	15 crossing	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 crossing	det
14	level	level	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 crossing	compound
15	crossing	crossing	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 required	obl
16	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	20 flash	advmod
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 lights	det
18	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 lights	compound
19	lights	light	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 flash	nsubj
20	flash	flash	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 required	advcl
21	and	and	CCONJ	_	24 descend	cc
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 barriers	det
23	barriers	barrier	NOUN	Number=Plur	24 descend	nsubj
24	descend	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	20 flash	conj
25	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the conduct		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	require	participle		the conduct not said here	a level crossing		vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Theme
4	flash	present	the warning lights				vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
5	descend	present	the barriers				vn meander-47.7-1 «NP 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

Persons shall cross rapidly before the barriers close fully

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cross	nsubj
2	shall	shall	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 cross	aux
3	cross	cross	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	rapidly	rapidly	ADV	_	3 cross	advmod
5	before	before	SCONJ	_	8 close	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 barriers	det
7	barriers	barrier	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 close	nsubj
8	close	close	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cross	advcl
9	fully	fully	ADV	_	8 close	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cross	shall	Persons					rapidly property	vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	close	present	the barriers					fully property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

All persons shall stop and wait, since a train is approaching

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 persons	det
2	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 stop	nsubj
3	shall	shall	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 stop	aux
4	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 wait	cc
6	wait	wait	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 stop	conj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 approaching	punct
8	since	since	SCONJ	_	12 approaching	mark
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 train	det
10	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 approaching	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 approaching	aux
12	approaching	approach	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 stop	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	stop	shall	all persons	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	wait	infinitive	all persons not said here	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	approach	present · progressive	a train	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Persons may pass beneath the barriers if no train is visible

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pass	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 pass	aux
3	pass	pass	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	6 barriers	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 barriers	det
6	barriers	barrier	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pass	obl
7	if	if	SCONJ	_	11 visible	mark
8	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	9 train	det
9	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 visible	nsubj
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 visible	cop
11	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 pass	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pass	may	Persons			the barriers			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme beneath barrier=Location
2	is a condition, not said to happen	present	no train					visible property	tree rules

Option 4

Pedestrians may proceed whereas vehicles shall stop

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pedestrians	pedestrian	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 proceed	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 proceed	aux
3	proceed	proceed	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	7 stop	mark
5	vehicles	vehicle	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 stop	nsubj
6	shall	shall	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 stop	aux
7	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 proceed	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	proceed	may	Pedestrians						vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent
2	stop	shall	vehicles						vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

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/275-railway-crossings-maps-and-addresses/e1/