Exam question 4 · Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky

Ascertain the reason for which a straight rod partially immersed in water appears bent.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, straight rod · What happens: ascertain, immerse, appear, bend · To what, where: reason, straight rod, water

This is exam question 4 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	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	13 appears	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 rod	det
7	straight	straight	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 rod	amod
8	rod	rod	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 appears	nsubj
9	partially	partially	ADV	_	10 immersed	advmod
10	immersed	immerse	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 rod	acl
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 water	case
12	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 immersed	obl
13	appears	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
14	bent	bend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 appears	xcomp
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	immerse	participle		a straight rod not said here	water	partially property	vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in water=Destination
3	appear	present	a straight rod			for the reason	vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute
4	bend	participle	a straight rod not said here				vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=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

The rod is deformed by the pressure of the water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rod	det
2	rod	rod	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deformed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 deformed	aux:pass
4	deformed	deform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 pressure	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 pressure	det
7	pressure	pressure	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deformed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 water	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 water	det
10	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 pressure	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deform	present · passive	the pressure of the water	the rod					vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	press			the water					nom pressure «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Light changes direction upon passing from water into air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 changes	nsubj
2	changes	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	direction	direction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 changes	obj
4	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	5 passing	mark
5	passing	pass	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 changes	advcl
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 water	case
7	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 passing	obl
8	into	into	ADP	_	9 air	case
9	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 passing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	present	Light	direction					vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent direction=Patient
2	pass	gerund	Light not said here			water		into air	vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from water=Initial_Location into air=Destination

Option 3

The eye cannot perceive objects beneath water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 eye	det
2	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 perceive	nsubj
3	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 perceive	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 perceive	advmod
5	perceive	perceive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	objects	object	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 perceive	obj
7	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	8 water	case
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 perceive	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not perceive	can	the eye	objects				beneath water	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer object=Stimulus

Option 4

The vessel distorts the rod mechanically by means of its curvature

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 vessel	det
2	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 distorts	nsubj
3	distorts	distort	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 rod	det
5	rod	rod	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 distorts	obj
6	mechanically	mechanically	ADV	_	3 distorts	advmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 means	case
8	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 distorts	parataxis
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 curvature	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 curvature	nmod:poss
11	curvature	curvature	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	distort	present	the vessel	the rod	mechanically property	vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent rod=Material
2	mean	present			of vessel's curvature	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	curve		vessel			nom curvature «state transitive»: poss=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/e4/