Exam question 4 · Islands, seas and lakes

Ascertain the principal cause of the diminution of the Aral Sea since the nineteen-sixties.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Aral Sea · What happens: ascertain, cause, diminish · To what, where: principal cause, diminution

This is exam question 4 of lesson 6 «Islands, seas and lakes» 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 cause	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cause	amod
4	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 diminution	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 diminution	det
7	diminution	diminution	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 cause	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 Sea	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Sea	det
10	Aral	Aral	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Sea	compound
11	Sea	Sea	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 diminution	nmod
12	since	since	ADP	_	16 sixties	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 sixties	det
14	nineteen	nineteen	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	16 sixties	compound
15	-	-	PUNCT	_	14 nineteen	punct
16	sixties	sixties	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cause	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal cause of the diminution of the Aral Sea	since the nineteen sixties	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	cause			the diminution of the Aral Sea	since the nineteen sixties	nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient since=obl
3	diminish		the Aral Sea			nom diminution «process 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 draining of its waters by a canal constructed to the Caspian

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 canal	det
2	draining	drain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 canal	csubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 waters	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 waters	nmod:poss
5	waters	water	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 draining	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 canal	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 canal	det
8	canal	canal	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	constructed	construct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 canal	acl
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 Caspian	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Caspian	det
12	Caspian	Caspian	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 constructed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drain	gerund						of its waters	vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Theme of water=Source
2	construct	participle		the canal not said here				to the Caspian	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

A succession of earthquakes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 succession	det
2	succession	succession	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 earthquakes	case
4	earthquakes	earthquake	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 succession	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The diversion of its feeder rivers for irrigation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 diversion	det
2	diversion	diversion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 rivers	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 rivers	nmod:poss
5	feeder	feeder	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 rivers	compound
6	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 diversion	nmod
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 irrigation	case
8	irrigation	irrigation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 rivers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	divert			diversion's feeder rivers for irrigation					nom diversion «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The rising of the ocean

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rising	det
2	rising	rising	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 ocean	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 ocean	det
5	ocean	ocean	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 rising	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rise		the ocean						nom rising «event intransitive»: of=agent

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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