Exam question 1 · Water, deserts and the shape of the land

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the largest desert upon the Earth?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: largest desert

This is exam question 1 of lesson 16 «Water, deserts and the shape of the land» 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	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 desert	det
10	largest	large	ADJ	Degree=Sup	11 desert	amod
11	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	upon	upon	ADP	_	14 Earth	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Earth	det
14	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 desert	nmod
15	?	?	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 largest desert				of the following statements; upon the Earth; 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

It is Arabia, a desert being defined by the absence of rivers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 Arabia	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 Arabia	cop
3	Arabia	Arabia	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 desert	punct
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 desert	det
6	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 Arabia	appos
7	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 defined	aux:pass
8	defined	define	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 desert	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 absence	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 absence	det
11	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 defined	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 rivers	case
13	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 absence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	present	It	Arabia	tree rules
2	define	gerund · passive	the absence of rivers	a desert not said here	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	absent			rivers	nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It is Antarctica, a desert being defined by scant precipitation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 Antarctica	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 Antarctica	cop
3	Antarctica	Antarctica	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 desert	punct
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 desert	det
6	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 Antarctica	appos
7	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 defined	aux:pass
8	defined	define	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 desert	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 precipitation	case
10	scant	scant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 precipitation	amod
11	precipitation	precipitation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 defined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	Antarctica					tree rules
2	define	gerund · passive	scant precipitation	a desert not said here					vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It is the Gobi, a desert being defined by low temperature

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 Gobi	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 Gobi	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Gobi	det
4	Gobi	Gobi	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 desert	punct
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 desert	det
7	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 Gobi	appos
8	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 defined	aux:pass
9	defined	define	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 desert	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 temperature	case
11	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 temperature	amod
12	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 defined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	the Gobi					tree rules
2	define	gerund · passive	low temperature	a desert not said here					vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It is the Sahara, a desert being defined by the presence of sand

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 Sahara	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 Sahara	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Sahara	det
4	Sahara	Sahara	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 desert	punct
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 desert	det
7	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 Sahara	appos
8	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 defined	aux:pass
9	defined	define	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 desert	acl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 presence	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 presence	det
12	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 defined	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 sand	case
14	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 presence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	the Sahara					tree rules
2	define	gerund · passive	the presence of sand	a desert not said here					vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/e1/