Exam question 1 · Directions, latitude and longitude

Identify the principal reason for which the determination of longitude at sea remained impracticable prior to the eighteenth century.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, determination, longitude · What happens: identify, remain, determine · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 2 «Directions, latitude and longitude» 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	Identify	identify	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 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 remained	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 determination	det
8	determination	determination	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 remained	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 longitude	case
10	longitude	longitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 determination	nmod
11	at	at	ADP	_	12 sea	case
12	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 longitude	nmod
13	remained	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
14	impracticable	impracticable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 remained	xcomp
15	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	13 remained	xcomp
16	to	to	ADP	_	19 century	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 century	det
18	eighteenth	eighteenth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 century	amod
19	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 prior	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	remain	past	the determination of longitude at sea		for the principal reason; impracticable, prior property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	determine		longitude at sea			nom determination «act intransitive»: of=agent

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

No sufficiently accurate marine timekeeper existed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 timekeeper	det
2	sufficiently	sufficiently	ADV	_	3 accurate	advmod
3	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 timekeeper	amod
4	marine	marine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 timekeeper	amod
5	timekeeper	timekeeper	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 existed	nsubj
6	existed	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exist	past	no accurate marine timekeeper						vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

The Pole Star was not visible from ships

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 Star	det
2	Pole	Pole	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 Star	compound
3	Star	Star	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 visible	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 visible	cop
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 visible	advmod
6	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	from	from	ADP	_	8 ships	case
8	ships	ship	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 visible	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is	past	the Pole Star			ships		visible property	tree rules

Option 3

The magnetic compass had not been invented

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 compass	det
2	magnetic	magnetic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 compass	amod
3	compass	compass	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 invented	nsubj:pass
4	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 invented	aux
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 invented	advmod
6	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 invented	aux:pass
7	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not invent	past · perfect · passive		the magnetic compass					vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result

Option 4

Latitude had not yet been defined

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Latitude	latitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 defined	nsubj:pass
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 defined	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 defined	advmod
4	yet	yet	ADV	_	6 defined	advmod
5	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	6 defined	aux:pass
6	defined	define	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not define	past · perfect · passive		Latitude			yet		vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: subject=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/2-directions-latitude-and-longitude/e1/