Exam question 3 · The United States

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the relative ages of the principal mountain ranges of the United States?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: relative ages

This is exam question 3 of lesson 9 «The United States» 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 ages	det
10	relative	relative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 ages	amod
11	ages	age	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	16 ranges	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 ranges	det
14	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 ranges	amod
15	mountain	mountain	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 ranges	compound
16	ranges	range	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 ages	nmod
17	of	of	ADP	_	20 States	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 States	det
19	United	United	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 States	amod
20	States	State	PROPN	Number=Plur	16 ranges	nmod
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the relative ages of the principal mountain ranges of the United States				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

Both ranges were formed in the twentieth century

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	2 ranges	det
2	ranges	range	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 formed	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 formed	aux:pass
4	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 century	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 century	det
7	twentieth	twentieth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 century	amod
8	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 formed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	past · passive		both ranges			century		vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The Appalachians are older and more eroded than the Rockies

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Appalachians	det
2	Appalachians	Appalachian	PROPN	Number=Plur	4 older	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 older	cop
4	older	old	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 eroded	cc
6	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	7 eroded	advmod
7	eroded	erode	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 older	conj
8	than	than	ADP	_	10 Rockies	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Rockies	det
10	Rockies	Rocky	PROPN	Number=Plur	7 eroded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the Appalachians					old property	tree rules
2	erode	past	the Appalachians not said here					than the Rockies	vn entity_specific_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

The Rockies are older and more eroded than the Appalachians

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Rockies	det
2	Rockies	Rocky	PROPN	Number=Plur	4 older	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 older	cop
4	older	old	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 eroded	cc
6	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	7 eroded	advmod
7	eroded	erode	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 older	conj
8	than	than	ADP	_	10 Appalachians	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Appalachians	det
10	Appalachians	Appalachian	PROPN	Number=Plur	7 eroded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the Rockies					old property	tree rules
2	erode	past	the Rockies not said here					than the Appalachians	vn entity_specific_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

Both ranges are of identical age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	2 ranges	det
2	ranges	range	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 age	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 age	cop
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 age	case
5	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 age	amod
6	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	both ranges				of identical age		tree rules

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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