Exam question 4 · Deserts

Ascertain the principal reason for the location of numerous great deserts at approximately thirty degrees of latitude north and south of the equator.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain · To what, where: principal reason, thirty degrees

This is exam question 4 of lesson 18 «Deserts» of the geography 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	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 location	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 location	det
7	location	location	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 deserts	case
9	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 deserts	amod
10	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 deserts	amod
11	deserts	desert	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 location	nmod
12	at	at	ADP	_	15 degrees	case
13	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	14 thirty	advmod
14	thirty	thirty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 degrees	nummod
15	degrees	degree	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascertain	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 north	case
17	latitude	latitude	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 north	amod
18	north	north	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 degrees	nmod
19	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 south	cc
20	south	south	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 north	conj
21	of	of	ADP	_	23 equator	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 equator	det
23	equator	equator	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 south	nmod
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		thirty degrees of latitude north and south of the equator		for the location of numerous great deserts	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition reason=Theme for location=Beneficiary

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

Dry air, having discharged its moisture over the tropics, descends in those latitudes, thereby inhibiting the formation of cloud

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 air	amod
2	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 descends	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 discharged	punct
4	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 discharged	aux
5	discharged	discharge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	2 air	acl:relcl
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 moisture	nmod:poss
7	moisture	moisture	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 discharged	obj
8	over	over	ADP	_	10 tropics	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 tropics	det
10	tropics	tropic	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 discharged	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 air	punct
12	descends	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 latitudes	case
14	those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	15 latitudes	det
15	latitudes	latitude	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 descends	obl
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 inhibiting	punct
17	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	18 inhibiting	advmod
18	inhibiting	inhibit	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 descends	advcl
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 formation	det
20	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 inhibiting	obj
21	of	of	ADP	_	22 cloud	case
22	cloud	cloud	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 formation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	discharge	gerund · perfect	Dry air not said here	air's moisture	the tropics		vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moisture=Theme
2	descend	present	Dry air		that latitudes		vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	inhibit	gerund	Dry air not said here	the formation of cloud		thereby property	vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer formation=Eventuality
4	moisten		air				nom moisture «state transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

Those latitudes lie closest to the Sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	2 latitudes	det
2	latitudes	latitude	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 lie	nsubj
3	lie	lie	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	closest	close	ADJ	Degree=Sup	3 lie	parataxis
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 Sun	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Sun	det
7	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 lie	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lie	present	that latitudes					to the Sun	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Those latitudes receive no sunlight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	2 latitudes	det
2	latitudes	latitude	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 receive	nsubj
3	receive	receive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 sunlight	det
5	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 receive	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive	present	that latitudes	no sunlight					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sunlight=Theme

Option 4

Those latitudes are encircled by mountain ranges

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	2 latitudes	det
2	latitudes	latitude	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 encircled	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 encircled	aux:pass
4	encircled	encircle	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 ranges	case
6	mountain	mountain	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 ranges	compound
7	ranges	range	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 encircled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	encircle	present · passive	mountain ranges	that latitudes					vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Co-Theme

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/geography/18-deserts/e4/