Exam question 2 · Earth from space

Identify the principal reason for which astronauts aboard an orbiting station appear weightless.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, astronauts · What happens: identify, orbit, appear · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 2 of lesson 13 «Earth from space» of the myths 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	7 astronauts	det
7	astronauts	astronaut	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 appear	nsubj
8	aboard	aboard	ADP	_	11 station	case
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 station	det
10	orbiting	orbit	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 station	amod
11	station	station	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 astronauts	nmod
12	appear	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
13	weightless	weightless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 appear	xcomp
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	orbit	gerund				vn orbit-51.9.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme
3	appear	present	which astronauts aboard a orbiting station		weightless property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

They and the station are in continuous free fall about the Earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 fall	nsubj
2	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 station	cc
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 station	det
4	station	station	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 They	conj
5	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 fall	cop
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 fall	case
7	continuous	continuous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 fall	amod
8	free	free	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 fall	amod
9	fall	fall	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
10	about	about	ADP	_	12 Earth	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Earth	det
12	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 fall	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	They			continuous free fall		about the Earth	tree rules

Option 2

The station is maintained at reduced air pressure

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 station	det
2	station	station	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 maintained	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 maintained	aux:pass
4	maintained	maintain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	8 pressure	case
6	reduced	reduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 pressure	amod
7	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 pressure	compound
8	pressure	pressure	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 maintained	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain	present · passive		the station		reduced air pressure			vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme
2	reduce	participle							vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer

Option 3

Their garments are lighter than the air within the station

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 garments	nmod:poss
2	garments	garment	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 lighter	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 lighter	cop
4	lighter	light	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
5	than	than	ADP	_	7 air	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 air	det
7	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lighter	obl
8	within	within	ADP	_	10 station	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 station	det
10	station	station	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lighter	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Their garments					than the air; within the station; light property	tree rules

Option 4

Gravity is wholly absent at the altitude of the station

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gravity	gravity	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 absent	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 absent	cop
3	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	4 absent	advmod
4	absent	absent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	7 altitude	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 altitude	det
7	altitude	altitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 absent	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 station	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 station	det
10	station	station	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 altitude	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Gravity			the altitude of the station		absent, wholly property	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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/13-earth-from-space/e2/