Exam question 1 · Weathering and erosion

Identify the principal distinction between weathering and erosion.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify · To what, where: principal distinction

This is exam question 1 of lesson 52 «Weathering and erosion» 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 distinction	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 distinction	amod
4	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	between	between	ADP	_	6 weathering	case
6	weathering	weathering	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 distinction	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 erosion	cc
8	erosion	erosion	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 weathering	conj
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal distinction				between weathering and erosion	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent distinction=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

Weathering is caused by animals, whereas erosion is caused by volcanoes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Weathering	weathering	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 caused	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 caused	aux:pass
3	caused	cause	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 animals	case
5	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 caused	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 caused	punct
7	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	10 caused	mark
8	erosion	erosion	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 caused	nsubj:pass
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 caused	aux:pass
10	caused	cause	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 caused	parataxis
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 volcanoes	case
12	volcanoes	volcano	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 caused	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present · passive	animals	Weathering					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient
2	cause	present · passive	volcanoes	erosion					vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Weathering creates rock, whereas erosion destroys it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Weathering	weathering	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 creates	nsubj
2	creates	create	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 creates	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 destroys	punct
5	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	7 destroys	mark
6	erosion	erosion	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 destroys	nsubj
7	destroys	destroy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 creates	conj
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 destroys	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	create	present	Weathering	rock					vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rock=Result
2	destroy	present	erosion	rock					vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient

Option 3

Weathering occurs solely in winter, whereas erosion occurs in summer

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Weathering	weathering	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occurs	nsubj
2	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 occurs	advmod
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 winter	case
5	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occurs	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 occurs	punct
7	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	9 occurs	mark
8	erosion	erosion	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 occurs	nsubj
9	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 occurs	conj
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 summer	case
11	summer	summer	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 occurs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present	Weathering				winter	solely property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	occur	present	erosion				summer		vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Weathering disintegrates rock in situ, whereas erosion removes the fragments

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Weathering	weathering	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disintegrates	nsubj
2	disintegrates	disintegrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disintegrates	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 situ	case
5	situ	situ	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disintegrates	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 removes	punct
7	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	9 removes	mark
8	erosion	erosion	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 removes	nsubj
9	removes	remove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 disintegrates	conj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 fragments	det
11	fragments	fragment	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 removes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disintegrate	present	Weathering	rock		situ			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent rock=Patient
2	remove	present	erosion	the fragments					vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fragment=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.

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