Exam question 1 · Thunder, sirens and how fast sound travels
Identify the principal reason for which thunder is perceived subsequent to the corresponding flash of lightning.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, lightning · What happens: identify, perceive, correspond, flash · To what, where: principal reason, thunder
This is exam question 1 of lesson 18 «Thunder, sirens and how fast sound travels» 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 perceived | obl |
| 7 | thunder | thunder | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 perceived | nsubj:pass |
| 8 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 perceived | aux:pass |
| 9 | perceived | perceive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 reason | acl:relcl |
| 10 | subsequent | subsequent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 perceived | xcomp |
| 11 | to | to | ADP | _ | 14 flash | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 flash | det |
| 13 | corresponding | correspond | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 14 flash | amod |
| 14 | flash | flash | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 perceived | obl |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 lightning | case |
| 16 | lightning | lightning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 flash | nmod |
| 17 | . | . | 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 | perceive | present · passive | thunder | for the principal reason; to the corresponding flash of lightning; subsequent property | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: subject=Theme to flash=be' | ||||
| 3 | correspond | gerund | vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 4 | flash | lightning | nom flash «event intransitive»: of=agent |
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 thunder is produced after the lightning has ceased
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 thunder | det |
| 2 | thunder | thunder | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 produced | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 produced | aux:pass |
| 4 | produced | produce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | after | after | SCONJ | _ | 9 ceased | mark |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 lightning | det |
| 7 | lightning | lightning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 ceased | nsubj:pass |
| 8 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 ceased | aux |
| 9 | ceased | cease | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 produced | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | produce | present · passive | the thunder | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result | |||||
| 2 | cease | present · perfect · passive | the lightning | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |
Option 2
The lightning and the thunder originate in different clouds
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 lightning | det |
| 2 | lightning | lightning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 originate | nsubj |
| 3 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 thunder | cc |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 thunder | det |
| 5 | thunder | thunder | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 lightning | conj |
| 6 | originate | originate | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | in | in | ADP | _ | 9 clouds | case |
| 8 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 clouds | amod |
| 9 | clouds | cloud | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 originate | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | originate | infinitive | the lightning and the thunder | different clouds | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
Option 3
The ear responds more slowly than the eye
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 ear | det |
| 2 | ear | ear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 responds | nsubj |
| 3 | responds | respond | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 5 slowly | advmod |
| 5 | slowly | slowly | ADV | _ | 3 responds | advmod |
| 6 | than | than | ADP | _ | 8 eye | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 eye | det |
| 8 | eye | eye | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 responds | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | respond speech: other | present | the ear | than the eye; slowly property | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Light is propagated at a vastly greater speed than sound
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Light | light | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 propagated | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 propagated | aux:pass |
| 3 | propagated | propagate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | at | at | ADP | _ | 8 speed | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 speed | det |
| 6 | vastly | vastly | ADV | _ | 7 greater | advmod |
| 7 | greater | great | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 8 speed | amod |
| 8 | speed | speed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 propagated | obl |
| 9 | than | than | ADP | _ | 10 sound | case |
| 10 | sound | sound | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 propagated | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | propagate | present · passive | Light | a greater speed | than sound | vn entity_specific_modes_being-47.2 «NP.location V NP»: subject=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.
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