Exam question 1 · Magnets, compasses and big Earth facts

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the cause of lower temperatures during the winter months?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, cause · To what, where: cause, lower temperatures

This is exam question 1 of lesson 17 «Magnets, compasses and big Earth facts» 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	10 cause	det
10	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 temperatures	case
12	lower	low	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	13 temperatures	amod
13	temperatures	temperature	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 cause	nmod
14	during	during	ADP	_	17 months	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 months	det
16	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 months	compound
17	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the cause of lower temperatures	month	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	cause		lower temperatures			nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient

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 Sun's output of heat diminishes during winter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Sun	det
2	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 output	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 Sun	case
4	output	output	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 diminishes	nsubj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 heat	case
6	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 output	nmod
7	diminishes	diminish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	during	during	ADP	_	9 winter	case
9	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 diminishes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	diminish	present	the Sun's output of heat				winter		vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 2

The Moon intercepts a portion of the sunlight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Moon	det
2	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 intercepts	nsubj
3	intercepts	intercept	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 portion	det
5	portion	portion	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 intercepts	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 sunlight	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sunlight	det
8	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 portion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	intercept	present	the Moon	a portion of the sunlight					vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent portion=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The inclination of the Earth's axis causes oblique sunlight and abbreviated days

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 inclination	det
2	inclination	inclination	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 causes	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 axis	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Earth	det
5	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 axis	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 Earth	case
7	axis	axis	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 inclination	nmod
8	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	oblique	oblique	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 sunlight	amod
10	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 causes	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 days	cc
12	abbreviated	abbreviate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 days	amod
13	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 sunlight	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	cause	present	the inclination of the Earth's axis	oblique sunlight and abbreviated days	vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition sunlight=Patient
2	abbreviate	participle			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	incline		the Earth's axis		nom inclination «cognition intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

The Earth is then at its greatest distance from the Sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Earth	det
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 distance	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 distance	cop
4	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	8 distance	advmod
5	at	at	ADP	_	8 distance	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 distance	nmod:poss
7	greatest	great	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 distance	amod
8	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	from	from	ADP	_	11 Sun	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Sun	det
11	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 distance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the Earth			the Sun	then	at Earth's greatest distance	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/17-magnets-compasses-and-big-earth-facts/e1/