Exam question 4 · Batteries, circuits and how electricity flows

Ascertain the principal reason for which copper conductors are enclosed in a plastic sheath.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, enclose · To what, where: principal reason, copper conductors, plastic sheath

This is exam question 4 of lesson 27 «Batteries, circuits and how electricity flows» 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	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 enclosed	obl
7	copper	copper	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 conductors	compound
8	conductors	conductor	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 enclosed	nsubj:pass
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 enclosed	aux:pass
10	enclosed	enclose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	in	in	ADP	_	14 sheath	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 sheath	det
13	plastic	plastic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 sheath	amod
14	sheath	sheath	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 enclosed	obl
15	.	.	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 principal reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	enclose	present · passive		copper conductors		a plastic sheath		for the principal reason	vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Theme

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

Plastic does not conduct, thereby preventing the escape of current

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Plastic	plastic	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conduct	nsubj
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 conduct	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 conduct	advmod
4	conduct	conduct	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 preventing	punct
6	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	7 preventing	advmod
7	preventing	prevent	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 conduct	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 escape	det
9	escape	escape	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 preventing	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 current	case
11	current	current	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 escape	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	not conduct	present · do-support	Plastic			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	prevent	gerund	Plastic not said here	the escape of current	thereby property	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer escape=Theme
3	escape		current			nom escape «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

Plastic accelerates the passage of the current

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Plastic	plastic	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 accelerates	nsubj
2	accelerates	accelerate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 passage	det
4	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 accelerates	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 current	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 current	det
7	current	current	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 passage	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accelerate	present	Plastic	the passage of the current					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent passage=Patient
2	pass		the current						nom passage «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3

Plastic renders the copper magnetic

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Plastic	plastic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 renders	amod
2	renders	render	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 magnetic	nsubj
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 copper	det
4	copper	copper	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 renders	nmod:unmarked
5	magnetic	magnetic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

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

Option 4

Plastic stores surplus charge for subsequent use

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Plastic	plastic	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stores	compound
2	stores	store	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 charge	nsubj
3	surplus	surplus	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 charge	amod
4	charge	charge	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 use	case
6	subsequent	subsequent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 use	amod
7	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 charge	nmod

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

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/27-batteries-circuits-and-how-electricity-flows/e4/