Exam question 1 · Explorers: Cook and the Pacific

Identify the method by which Polynesian navigators located islands across the Pacific Ocean.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Polynesian navigators · What happens: identify, locate · To what, where: method, islands, Pacific Ocean

This is exam question 1 of lesson 28 «Explorers: Cook and the Pacific» of the history 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	3 method	det
3	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 located	obl
6	Polynesian	polynesian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 navigators	amod
7	navigators	navigator	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 located	nsubj
8	located	locate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 method	acl:relcl
9	islands	island	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 located	obj
10	across	across	ADP	_	13 Ocean	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Ocean	det
12	Pacific	Pacific	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 Ocean	compound
13	Ocean	Ocean	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 islands	nmod
14	.	.	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 method					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent method=Theme
2	locate	past	Polynesian navigators	islands		the Pacific Ocean		by the method	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

Reliance upon printed charts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Reliance	reliance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	upon	upon	ADP	_	4 charts	case
3	printed	print	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 charts	amod
4	charts	chart	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Reliance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	print	participle							vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Observation of stars, swells and birds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 swells	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 stars	case
3	stars	star	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Observation	nmod
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Observation	punct
5	swells	swell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 birds	cc
7	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 swells	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swell	present	Observation of stars						vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
2	observe			stars					nom observation «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Communication by radio

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Communication	communication	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	by	by	ADP	_	3 radio	case
3	radio	radio	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Communication	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	communicate		radio						nom communication «communication intransitive»: by=agent

Option 4

The use of magnetic compasses supplied from Europe

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 use	det
2	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 compasses	case
4	magnetic	magnetic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 compasses	amod
5	compasses	compass	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 use	nmod
6	supplied	supply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 compasses	acl
7	from	from	ADP	_	8 Europe	case
8	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 supplied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	supply	participle		magnetic compasses not said here		Europe			vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	use			magnetic compasses					nom use «act 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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