Exam question 2 · Swings and pendulums

Identify the principal reason for which a body of soldiers is instructed to break step upon crossing a bridge.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, instruct, break, cross · To what, where: principal reason, body, step, bridge

This is exam question 2 of lesson 10 «Swings and pendulums» 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	12 instructed	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 body	det
8	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 instructed	nsubj:pass
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 soldiers	case
10	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 body	nmod
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 instructed	aux:pass
12	instructed	instruct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 break	mark
14	break	break	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 instructed	xcomp
15	step	step	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 break	obj
16	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	17 crossing	mark
17	crossing	cross	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	14 break	advcl
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 bridge	det
19	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 crossing	obj
20	.	.	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	instruct speech: other	present · passive		a body of soldiers	for the principal reason	vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
3	break	to-infinitive		step		vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer step=Patient
4	cross	gerund		a bridge		vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bridge=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 right answer

Regular impulses matching the natural rhythm of the bridge could increase its oscillation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Regular	regular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 impulses	amod
2	impulses	impulse	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 increase	nsubj
3	matching	match	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 impulses	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 rhythm	det
5	natural	natural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 rhythm	amod
6	rhythm	rhythm	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 matching	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 bridge	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 bridge	det
9	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 rhythm	nmod
10	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 increase	aux
11	increase	increase	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
12	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 oscillation	nmod:poss
13	oscillation	oscillation	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 increase	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	match	gerund	Regular impulses not said here	the natural rhythm of the bridge	vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rhythm=Patient
2	increase	could	Regular impulses	bridge's oscillation	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer oscillation=Patient
3	oscillate		bridge		nom oscillation «process intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

Marching renders the soldiers heavier upon the bridge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Marching	march	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 renders	amod
2	renders	render	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 heavier	nsubj
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 soldiers	det
4	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 renders	conj
5	heavier	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 bridge	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 bridge	det
8	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 heavier	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	march	gerund							vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

The noise of marching disturbs the inhabitants nearby

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 noise	det
2	noise	noise	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 disturbs	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 marching	case
4	marching	marching	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 noise	nmod
5	disturbs	disturb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 inhabitants	det
7	inhabitants	inhabitant	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 disturbs	obj
8	nearby	nearby	ADV	_	5 disturbs	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disturb	present	the noise of marching	the inhabitants				nearby property	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus inhabitant=Experiencer
2	noise		marching						nom noise «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

The tread of soldiers wears away the surface of the bridge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tread	det
2	tread	tread	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 wears	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 soldiers	case
4	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 tread	nmod
5	wears	wear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	away	away	ADV	_	5 wears	advmod
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 surface	det
8	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 wears	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 bridge	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 bridge	det
11	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 surface	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wear away	present	the tread of soldiers	the surface of the bridge				away property	vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent surface=Source
2	tread		soldiers						nom tread «act intransitive»: of=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/physics/10-swings-and-pendulums/e2/