Test 4 · Inside the Earth

What would happen to compasses if the outer core stopped swirling?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: outer core · What happens: happen, stop, swirl

This is test 4 of lesson 41 «Inside the Earth» of the geography course of Mova's primary school. 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	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 happen	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 happen	aux
3	happen	happen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	5 compasses	case
5	compasses	compass	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 happen	obl
6	if	if	SCONJ	_	10 stopped	mark
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 core	det
8	outer	outer	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 core	amod
9	core	core	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stopped	nsubj
10	stopped	stop	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 happen	advcl
11	swirling	swirl	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 stopped	xcomp
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 happen	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	happen	would		to compasses	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	stop a condition, not said to happen	past	the outer core		vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
3	swirl	gerund	the outer core not said here		vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «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 · ✓ the right answer

The magnetic field would fade and compasses would stop working

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 field	det
2	magnetic	magnetic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 field	amod
3	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fade	nsubj
4	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 fade	aux
5	fade	fade	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 stop	cc
7	compasses	compass	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 stop	nsubj
8	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 stop	aux
9	stop	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 fade	conj
10	working	work	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 stop	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	fade	would	the magnetic field	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	stop	would	compasses	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
3	work	gerund	compasses not said here	vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Compasses would all point to the Sun instead of to the north

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Compasses	compass	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 point	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 point	aux
3	all	all	ADV	_	4 point	advmod
4	point	point	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 Sun	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Sun	det
7	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 point	obl
8	instead	instead	ADV	ExtPos=ADP	12 north	case
9	of	of	ADP	_	8 instead	fixed
10	to	to	ADP	_	8 instead	fixed
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 north	det
12	north	north	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 point	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	point	would	Compasses		the Sun			instead the north; all property	vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to sun=Recipient

Option 3

Nothing, compasses work by gravity alone, not by magnetism

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	3 compasses	compound
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Nothing	punct
3	compasses	compass	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 work	nsubj
4	work	work	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 gravity	case
6	gravity	gravity	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 work	obl
7	alone	alone	ADV	_	4 work	advmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 magnetism	punct
9	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 magnetism	advmod
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 magnetism	case
11	magnetism	magnetism	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 work	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	work	present	Nothing compasses					by gravity; alone property	vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Compasses would spin faster and faster

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Compasses	compass	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 spin	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 spin	aux
3	spin	spin	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	faster	fast	ADV	Degree=Cmp	3 spin	advmod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 faster	cc
6	faster	fast	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 spin	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	spin	would	Compasses					fast property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=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/41-inside-the-earth/t4/