Exam question 1 · Static electricity: balloons, hair and sparks

Identify the principal process whereby a rubber balloon acquires an electric charge upon being rubbed against hair.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, rubber balloon · What happens: identify, acquire, rub · To what, where: principal process, electric charge, hair

This is exam question 1 of lesson 26 «Static electricity: balloons, hair and sparks» 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 process	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 process	amod
4	process	process	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	9 acquires	advmod
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 balloon	det
7	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 balloon	compound
8	balloon	balloon	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 acquires	nsubj
9	acquires	acquire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	advcl
10	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 charge	det
11	electric	electric	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 charge	amod
12	charge	charge	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 acquires	obj
13	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	15 rubbed	mark
14	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	15 rubbed	aux:pass
15	rubbed	rub	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 charge	acl
16	against	against	ADP	_	17 hair	case
17	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 rubbed	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal process			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent process=Theme
2	acquire	present	a rubber balloon	a electric charge		whereby property	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset charge=Theme
3	rub	gerund · passive		a electric charge not said here	hair		vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: against hair=Destination

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 creation of new charge within the rubber by the heat of friction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 creation	det
2	creation	creation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 charge	case
4	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 charge	amod
5	charge	charge	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 creation	nmod
6	within	within	ADP	_	8 rubber	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 rubber	det
8	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 charge	nmod
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 heat	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 heat	det
11	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 rubber	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 friction	case
13	friction	friction	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 heat	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	create			new charge within the rubber by the heat of friction					nom creation «act transitive»: of=patient
2	heat		friction						nom heat «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The absorption of air by the hair

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 absorption	det
2	absorption	absorption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 air	case
4	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorption	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 hair	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hair	det
7	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorption	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb		the hair	air					nom absorption «process transitive»: of=patient by=agent

Option 3

The magnetisation of the rubber

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 magnetisation	det
2	magnetisation	magnetisation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 rubber	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 rubber	det
5	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 magnetisation	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The transfer of electrons from the hair to the balloon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 transfer	det
2	transfer	transfer	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 electrons	case
4	electrons	electron	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 transfer	nmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 hair	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hair	det
7	hair	hair	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 electrons	nmod
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 balloon	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 balloon	det
10	balloon	balloon	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 hair	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transfer			electrons from the hair to the balloon					nom transfer «act transitive»: of=patient

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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