Exam question 4 · Bangs and loud sounds: firecrackers and ears

Ascertain the principle by which noise-cancelling headphones reduce ambient noise.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, cancelling headphones · What happens: ascertain, reduce · To what, where: principle, ambient noise

This is exam question 4 of lesson 19 «Bangs and loud sounds: firecrackers and ears» 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 principle	det
3	principle	principle	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 reduce	obl
6	noise	noise	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 cancelling	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 noise	punct
8	cancelling	cancelling	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 headphones	compound
9	headphones	headphone	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 reduce	nsubj
10	reduce	reduce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 principle	acl:relcl
11	ambient	ambient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 noise	amod
12	noise	noise	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 reduce	obj
13	.	.	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 principle					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent principle=Topic
2	reduce	present	cancelling headphones	ambient noise				by the principle	vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer noise=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

A wave opposite to the incident noise is generated so that the two cancel

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 opposite	det
2	wave	wave	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 opposite	compound
3	opposite	opposite	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 generated	nsubj:pass
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 noise	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 noise	det
6	incident	incident	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 noise	compound
7	noise	noise	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 opposite	nmod
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 generated	aux:pass
9	generated	generate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	so	so	SCONJ	_	14 cancel	case
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 so	fixed
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 cancel	det
13	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	14 cancel	nummod
14	cancel	cancel	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 generated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	generate	present · passive		a wave opposite to the incident noise				so the two cancel	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 2

The noise is absorbed by foam exclusively

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	4 absorbed	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 absorbed	aux:pass
4	absorbed	absorb	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 foam	case
6	foam	foam	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 absorbed	obl
7	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	4 absorbed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present · passive	foam	the noise				exclusively property	vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal subject=Theme

Option 3

The noise is masked by music of greater volume

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	4 masked	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 masked	aux:pass
4	masked	mask	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 music	case
6	music	music	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 masked	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 volume	case
8	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	9 volume	amod
9	volume	volume	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 music	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mask	present · passive	music of greater volume	the noise					vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Destination

Option 4

The noise is converted into light

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	4 converted	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 converted	aux:pass
4	converted	convert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	into	into	ADP	_	6 light	case
6	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 converted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convert	present · passive		the noise				into light result	vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: subject=Patient into light=Result

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/19-bangs-and-loud-sounds-firecrackers-and-ears/e4/