Exam question 1 · Parachutes, skydivers and falling safely

Identify the principal reason for which the deployment of a parachute diminishes the velocity of descent.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, deployment · What happens: identify, diminish, deploy · To what, where: principal reason, velocity, parachute

This is exam question 1 of lesson 3 «Parachutes, skydivers and falling safely» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 diminishes	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 deployment	det
8	deployment	deployment	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 diminishes	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 parachute	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 parachute	det
11	parachute	parachute	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 deployment	nmod
12	diminishes	diminish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 velocity	det
14	velocity	velocity	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 diminishes	obj
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 descent	case
16	descent	descent	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 velocity	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	diminish	present	the deployment of a parachute	the velocity of descent	for the principal reason	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer velocity=Patient
3	deploy			a parachute		nom deployment «act transitive»: of=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 canopy neutralises the gravitational attraction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 canopy	det
2	canopy	canopy	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 neutralises	nsubj
3	neutralises	neutralis	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 attraction	det
5	gravitational	gravitational	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 attraction	amod
6	attraction	attraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 neutralises	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	neutralis	present	the canopy	the gravitational attraction					tree rules

Option 2

The canopy draws the parachutist upwards towards the aircraft

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 canopy	det
2	canopy	canopy	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 draws	nsubj
3	draws	draw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 parachutist	det
5	parachutist	parachutist	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 draws	obj
6	upwards	upwards	ADV	_	3 draws	advmod
7	towards	towards	ADP	_	9 aircraft	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 aircraft	det
9	aircraft	aircraft	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 draws	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	present	the canopy	the parachutist		the aircraft		upwards property	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent parachutist=Theme towards aircraft=Destination

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The extensive canopy encounters a considerable resistance of the air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 canopy	det
2	extensive	extensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 canopy	amod
3	canopy	canopy	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 encounters	nsubj
4	encounters	encounter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 resistance	det
6	considerable	considerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 resistance	amod
7	resistance	resistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 encounters	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 air	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 air	det
10	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 resistance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	encounter	present	the extensive canopy	a considerable resistance of the air					vn encounter-30.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer resistance=Stimulus
2	resist			the air					nom resistance «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The canopy is of lesser density than the surrounding air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 canopy	det
2	canopy	canopy	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 density	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 density	cop
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 density	case
5	lesser	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	6 density	amod
6	density	density	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	than	than	ADP	_	10 air	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 air	det
9	surrounding	surround	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 air	amod
10	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 density	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the canopy					of lesser density; than the surrounding air	tree rules
2	surround	gerund							vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme

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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