Exam question 4 · The River Thames and the Sea Rat's voyage: from Constantin…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the coasting trade in which the Sea Rat is engaged?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, engage · To what, where: coasting trade, Sea Rat

This is exam question 4 of lesson 62 «The River Thames and the Sea Rat's voyage: from Constantinople to the English Channel» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 trade	det
10	coasting	coasting	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 trade	compound
11	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 which	case
13	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	18 engaged	obl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Rat	det
15	Sea	Sea	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 Rat	compound
16	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 engaged	nsubj
17	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 engaged	aux:pass
18	engaged	engage	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 trade	acl:relcl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the coasting trade		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	engage	present · passive	the Sea Rat	the coasting trade		vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Theme in which=Goal

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

Vessels navigate inland rivers exclusively

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 navigate	nsubj
2	navigate	navigate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	inland	inland	ADV	_	2 navigate	advmod
4	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 navigate	obj
5	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 navigate	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	navigate	present	Vessels	rivers				exclusively, inland property	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme river=Trajectory

Option 2

Vessels remain at anchor in a single harbour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 remain	nsubj
2	remain	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	at	at	ADP	_	4 anchor	case
4	anchor	anchor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 remain	obl
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 harbour	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 harbour	det
7	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 harbour	amod
8	harbour	harbour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 remain	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remain	present	Vessels			anchor		in a single harbour	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at anchor=Location

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Vessels cross the open ocean without sight of land for many months together

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cross	nsubj
2	cross	cross	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 ocean	det
4	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 ocean	amod
5	ocean	ocean	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cross	obj
6	without	without	ADP	_	7 sight	case
7	sight	sight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cross	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 land	case
9	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sight	nmod
10	for	for	ADP	_	12 months	case
11	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 months	amod
12	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cross	obl
13	together	together	ADV	_	2 cross	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cross	present	Vessels	the open ocean			month	without sight of land; together property	vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ocean=Patient
2	sight			land					nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Vessels proceed from port to port along the coast, seldom out of sight of land

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 proceed	nsubj
2	proceed	proceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 port	case
4	port	port	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 proceed	obl
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 port	case
6	port	port	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 port	nmod
7	along	along	ADP	_	9 coast	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 coast	det
9	coast	coast	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 proceed	obl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 sight	punct
11	seldom	seldom	ADV	_	14 sight	advmod
12	out	out	ADP	_	14 sight	case
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 sight	case
14	sight	sight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 proceed	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 land	case
16	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 sight	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	proceed	present	Vessels			port to port		along the coast; out sight of land	vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent
2	sight			land					nom sight «cognition 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.

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