Exam question 2 · Floating and sinking: the push of the water

Identify the principal reason for which a vessel constructed of steel remains afloat.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, vessel · What happens: identify, construct, remain · To what, where: principal reason, vessel

This is exam question 2 of lesson 11 «Floating and sinking: the push of the water» 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 remains	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 vessel	det
8	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 remains	nsubj
9	constructed	construct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 vessel	acl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 steel	case
11	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 constructed	obl
12	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
13	afloat	afloat	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 remains	xcomp
14	.	.	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	construct	participle		a vessel not said here	of steel	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	remain	present	a vessel		for the principal reason; afloat property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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 engines exert a continual upward force

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 engines	det
2	engines	engine	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 exert	nsubj
3	exert	exert	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 force	det
5	continual	continual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 force	amod
6	upward	upward	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 force	amod
7	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exert	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exert	infinitive	the engines	a continual upward force					vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent force=Theme

Option 2

Salt water exerts no downward force upon metal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 water	compound
2	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	nsubj
3	exerts	exert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	6 force	det
5	downward	downward	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 force	amod
6	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	obj
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 metal	case
8	metal	metal	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 force	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exert	present	Salt water	no downward force				upon metal	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent force=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Its hollow form displaces a weight of water exceeding its own

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 form	nmod:poss
2	hollow	hollow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 form	amod
3	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 displaces	nsubj
4	displaces	displace	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 weight	det
6	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 displaces	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 water	case
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 weight	nmod
9	exceeding	exceed	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 displaces	advcl
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 own	nmod:poss
11	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 exceeding	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	displace	present	Its hollow form	a weight of water	tree rules
2	exceed	gerund	Its hollow form not said here	form's own	vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot own=Theme
3	form		Its = it		nom form «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

Steel is of lesser density than water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 density	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 density	cop
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 density	case
4	lesser	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 density	amod
5	density	density	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	than	than	ADP	_	7 water	case
7	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 density	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Steel					of lesser density; than water	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/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/e2/