Exam question 1 · Why things fall: the apple and the pull of the Earth
Identify the principal reason for which a feather descends more slowly than a stone when both are released simultaneously in the open air.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, feather · What happens: identify, descend, release · To what, where: principal reason, both, open air
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1 «Why things fall: the apple and the pull of the Earth» of the physics 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 | PRON | PronType=Rel | 9 descends | obl |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 feather | det |
| 8 | feather | feather | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 descends | nsubj |
| 9 | descends | descend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 reason | acl |
| 10 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 11 slowly | advmod |
| 11 | slowly | slowly | ADV | _ | 9 descends | advmod |
| 12 | than | than | ADP | _ | 14 stone | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 stone | det |
| 14 | stone | stone | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 descends | obl |
| 15 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 18 released | advmod |
| 16 | both | both | DET | PronType=Tot | 18 released | nsubj:pass |
| 17 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 18 released | aux:pass |
| 18 | released | release | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 descends | advcl |
| 19 | simultaneously | simultaneously | ADV | _ | 18 released | advmod |
| 20 | in | in | ADP | _ | 23 air | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 air | det |
| 22 | open | open | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 air | amod |
| 23 | air | air | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 released | obl |
| 24 | . | . | 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 principal reason | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme | ||||
| 2 | descend | present | a feather | for the principal reason; than a stone; slowly property | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | release | present · passive | both | the open air | simultaneously property | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Source |
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
Heavier bodies are invariably accelerated more rapidly
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heavier | heavy | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 2 bodies | amod |
| 2 | bodies | body | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 accelerated | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 accelerated | aux:pass |
| 4 | invariably | invariably | ADV | _ | 5 accelerated | advmod |
| 5 | accelerated | accelerate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 5 accelerated | advmod |
| 7 | rapidly | rapidly | ADV | _ | 5 accelerated | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | accelerate | present · passive | Heavier bodies | invariably, rapidly property | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
Option 2
The gravitational attraction upon feathers is negligible
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 attraction | det |
| 2 | gravitational | gravitational | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 attraction | amod |
| 3 | attraction | attraction | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 negligible | nsubj |
| 4 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 5 feathers | case |
| 5 | feathers | feather | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 attraction | nmod |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 negligible | cop |
| 7 | negligible | negligible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | the gravitational attraction upon feathers | negligible property | tree rules |
Option 3
The feather is repelled by the surface of the Earth
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 feather | det |
| 2 | feather | feather | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 repelled | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 repelled | aux:pass |
| 4 | repelled | repel | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 7 surface | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 surface | det |
| 7 | surface | surface | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 repelled | obl |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 Earth | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 Earth | det |
| 10 | Earth | Earth | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 surface | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | repel | present · passive | the surface of the Earth | the feather | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
The resistance of the air acts more strongly upon the feather
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 resistance | det |
| 2 | resistance | resistance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 acts | nsubj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 air | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 air | det |
| 5 | air | air | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 resistance | nmod |
| 6 | acts | act | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 8 strongly | advmod |
| 8 | strongly | strongly | ADV | _ | 6 acts | advmod |
| 9 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 11 feather | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 feather | det |
| 11 | feather | feather | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 acts | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | act | present | the resistance of the air | upon the feather; strongly property | vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | resist | the air | nom resistance «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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/1-why-things-fall/e1/