Exam question 1 · Crossing the road

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the stopping of a moving car?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, move · To what, where: stopping

This is exam question 1 of lesson 41 «Crossing the road» 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 stopping	det
10	stopping	stopping	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 car	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 car	det
13	moving	move	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 car	amod
14	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stopping	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the stopping of a moving car	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	move	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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A car cannot stop at once, and the greater its speed the longer it requires to stop

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 car	det
2	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 stop	nsubj
3	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 stop	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 stop	advmod
5	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 once	case
7	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	5 stop	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 greater	punct
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 greater	cc
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 greater	det
11	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 stop	parataxis
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 speed	nmod:poss
13	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 greater	nsubj
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 longer	det
15	longer	long	ADV	Degree=Cmp	17 requires	advmod
16	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 requires	nsubj
17	requires	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 greater	advcl
18	to	to	PART	_	19 stop	mark
19	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 requires	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	not stop	can	a car		vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=Location
2	require	present	speed	long property	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Precondition
3	stop	to-infinitive	speed not said here		vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 2

A car stops instantly whenever its brakes are applied

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 car	det
2	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stops	nsubj
3	stops	stop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	instantly	instantly	ADV	_	3 stops	advmod
5	whenever	whenever	ADV	PronType=Rel	9 applied	advmod
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 brakes	nmod:poss
7	brakes	brake	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 applied	nsubj:pass
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 applied	aux:pass
9	applied	apply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 stops	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stop	present	a car					instantly property	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	apply	present · passive		car's brakes				whenever property	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

Faster cars require less distance to stop

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Faster	fast	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 cars	amod
2	cars	car	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 require	nsubj
3	require	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 distance	amod
5	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 require	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 stop	mark
7	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 require	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present	Faster cars	less distance					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme distance=Precondition
2	stop	to-infinitive	Faster cars not said here						vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 4

Speed makes no difference whatsoever to the distance which a moving car requires to stop

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 makes	nsubj
2	makes	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 difference	det
4	difference	difference	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 makes	obj
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 makes	advmod
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 distance	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 distance	det
8	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 makes	obl
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 requires	obj
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 car	det
11	moving	move	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 car	amod
12	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 requires	nsubj
13	requires	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 distance	acl:relcl
14	to	to	PART	_	15 stop	mark
15	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 requires	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	make	present	Speed	no difference	to the distance; whatsoever property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset difference=Product
2	move	gerund				vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme
3	require	present	a moving car	the distance		vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent which=Recipient clause=Topic
4	stop	to-infinitive	a moving car not said here			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/41-crossing-the-road/e1/