Exam question 2 · What sound is: wobbles in the air

Ascertain the reason for which sound cannot be transmitted through the vacuum of space.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, not transmit · To what, where: reason, sound, vacuum

This is exam question 2 of lesson 17 «What sound is: wobbles in the air» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 transmitted	obl
6	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 transmitted	nsubj:pass
7	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 transmitted	aux
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 transmitted	advmod
9	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	10 transmitted	aux:pass
10	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
11	through	through	ADP	_	13 vacuum	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 vacuum	det
13	vacuum	vacuum	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 transmitted	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 space	case
15	space	space	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 vacuum	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	not transmit	can · passive		sound		the vacuum of space		for the reason	vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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

The temperature of space is excessively low for any vibration

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 temperature	det
2	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 low	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 space	case
4	space	space	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 temperature	nmod
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 low	cop
6	excessively	excessively	ADV	_	7 low	advmod
7	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	for	for	ADP	_	10 vibration	case
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	10 vibration	det
10	vibration	vibration	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 low	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the temperature of space					for any vibration; excessively, low property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Sound is absorbed by the light of the Sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorbed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 absorbed	aux:pass
3	absorbed	absorb	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 light	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 light	det
6	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorbed	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 Sun	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Sun	det
9	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 light	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present · passive	the light of the Sun	Sound					vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal subject=Theme
2	light			the Sun					nom light «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The radiation of the stars obstructs it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 radiation	det
2	radiation	radiation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 obstructs	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 stars	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 stars	det
5	stars	star	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 radiation	nmod
6	obstructs	obstruct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 obstructs	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obstruct	present	the radiation of the stars	it					vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer it=Eventuality
2	radiate			the stars					nom radiation «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

There exists no medium to transmit the vibration

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	There	there	PRON	PronType=Dem	2 exists	expl
2	exists	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 medium	det
4	medium	medium	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exists	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 transmit	mark
6	transmit	transmit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 exists	advcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 vibration	det
8	vibration	vibration	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 transmit	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exist	present		no medium		there			tree rules
2	transmit	to-infinitive		the vibration					vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vibration=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/17-what-sound-is-wobbles-in-the-air/e2/