Exam question 2 · Why things fall: the apple and the pull of the Earth

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the motion of bodies released in the absence of air?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: bodies · What happens: follow, characteris, release, motion, absent · To what, where: motion, bodies, absence, air

This is exam question 2 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	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 motion	det
10	motion	motion	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 bodies	case
12	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 motion	nmod
13	released	release	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 bodies	acl
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 absence	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 absence	det
16	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 released	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	18 air	case
18	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 absence	nmod
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the motion of bodies		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	release	participle		bodies not said here	the absence of air		vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer
4	motion		bodies				nom motion «communication intransitive»: of=agent
5	absent			air			nom absence «state 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 · ✓ the right answer

All bodies descend at an identical rate irrespective of weight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 bodies	det
2	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 descend	nsubj
3	descend	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	at	at	ADP	_	7 rate	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 rate	det
6	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 rate	amod
7	rate	rate	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 descend	obl
8	irrespective	irrespective	ADV	_	10 weight	advmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 weight	case
10	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 descend	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present	all bodies			a identical rate		of weight	vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme of weight=Location

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Bodies descend at a constant speed from release

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 descend	nsubj
2	descend	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	at	at	ADP	_	6 speed	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 speed	det
5	constant	constant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 speed	amod
6	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 descend	obl
7	from	from	ADP	_	8 release	case
8	release	release	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 descend	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present	Bodies			a constant speed		from release	vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from release=Location

Option 3

Lighter bodies remain suspended indefinitely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Lighter	light	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 bodies	amod
2	bodies	body	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 remain	nsubj
3	remain	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	suspended	suspend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 remain	xcomp
5	indefinitely	indefinitely	ADV	_	4 suspended	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remain	present	Lighter bodies						tree rules
2	suspend	participle	Lighter bodies not said here					indefinitely property	vn spatial_configuration-47.6 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Heavier bodies descend at a proportionally greater rate

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	3 descend	nsubj
3	descend	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	at	at	ADP	_	8 rate	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 rate	det
6	proportionally	proportionally	ADV	_	7 greater	advmod
7	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 rate	amod
8	rate	rate	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 descend	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	present	Heavier bodies			a greater rate			vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/e2/