Exam question 2 · Inside the Earth

Identify the principal means by which the composition of the Earth's interior has been ascertained.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, principal · What happens: identify, mean, ascertain · To what, where: composition · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 41 «Inside the Earth» 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	3 principal	det
3	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 means	nsubj
4	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 ascertained	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 composition	det
8	composition	composition	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 ascertained	nsubj:pass
9	of	of	ADP	_	13 interior	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Earth	det
11	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 interior	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 Earth	case
13	interior	interior	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 composition	nmod
14	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 ascertained	aux
15	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	16 ascertained	aux:pass
16	ascertained	ascertain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 means	ccomp
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the principal		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	ascertain	present · perfect · passive		the composition of the Earth's interior	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic

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

Observation of the interior through volcanic craters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 interior	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 interior	det
4	interior	interior	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Observation	nmod
5	through	through	ADP	_	7 craters	case
6	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 craters	amod
7	craters	crater	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Observation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe			the interior		volcanic craters			nom observation «act transitive»: of=patient through=place

Option 2

Photographic examination of the planet from orbit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Photographic	Photographic	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 examination	compound
2	examination	examination	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 planet	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 planet	det
5	planet	planet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 examination	nmod
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 orbit	case
7	orbit	orbit	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 planet	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	examine			the planet from orbit					nom examination «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Direct sampling of the core by means of deep boreholes drilled for the purpose

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Direct	direct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 sampling	amod
2	sampling	sampling	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 means	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 core	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 core	det
5	core	core	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sampling	nmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	5 core	nmod
7	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 boreholes	case
9	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 boreholes	amod
10	boreholes	borehole	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 means	obl
11	drilled	drill	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 boreholes	acl
12	for	for	ADP	_	14 purpose	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 purpose	det
14	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 drilled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	Direct sampling of the core					of deep boreholes	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	drill	participle		deep boreholes not said here				for the purpose	vn carve-21.2-3 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Analysis of the propagation of seismic waves through the planet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Analysis	Analysis	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 propagation	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 propagation	det
4	propagation	propagation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Analysis	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 waves	case
6	seismic	seismic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 waves	amod
7	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 propagation	nmod
8	through	through	ADP	_	10 planet	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 planet	det
10	planet	planet	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 waves	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	propagate			seismic waves through the planet					nom propagation «communication transitive»: of=patient

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/41-inside-the-earth/e2/