Exam question 2 · Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the formation of a rainbow?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: formation

This is exam question 2 of lesson 21 «Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 formation	det
10	formation	formation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 rainbow	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 rainbow	det
13	rainbow	rainbow	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 formation	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the formation of a rainbow				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

Rainbows are formed solely by moonlight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Rainbows	rainbow	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 formed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 formed	aux:pass
3	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 formed	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 moonlight	case
6	moonlight	moonlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 formed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	form	present · passive	moonlight	Rainbows				solely property	vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme

Option 2

The Sun emits seven discrete beams of colour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Sun	det
2	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 emits	nsubj
3	emits	emit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 beams	nummod
5	discrete	discrete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 beams	amod
6	beams	beam	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 emits	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 colour	case
8	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 beams	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	emit	present	the Sun	seven discrete beams of colour					vn substance_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source beam=Theme
2	beam			colour					nom beam «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Coloured vapours are suspended within the clouds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Coloured	coloured	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 vapours	amod
2	vapours	vapour	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 suspended	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 suspended	aux:pass
4	suspended	suspend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	within	within	ADP	_	7 clouds	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 clouds	det
7	clouds	cloud	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 suspended	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suspend	present · passive		Coloured vapours				within the clouds	vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Sunlight is refracted, dispersed and reflected by droplets of water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 refracted	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 refracted	aux:pass
3	refracted	refract	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 dispersed	punct
5	dispersed	disperse	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 refracted	conj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 reflected	cc
7	reflected	reflect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 refracted	conj
8	by	by	ADP	_	9 droplets	case
9	droplets	droplet	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 reflected	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 water	case
11	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 droplets	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	refract	present · passive	Sunlight		vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient
2	disperse	participle			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
3	reflect	participle		by droplets of water	vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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/21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky/e2/