Exam question 2 · Parachutes, skydivers and falling safely

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the function of the foam lining of a cycling helmet?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: function

This is exam question 2 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	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 function	det
10	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 lining	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 lining	det
13	foam	foam	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 lining	compound
14	lining	lining	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 function	nmod
15	of	of	ADP	_	18 helmet	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 helmet	det
17	cycling	cycling	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 helmet	compound
18	helmet	helmet	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 lining	nmod
19	?	?	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 function of the foam lining of a cycling helmet				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

It increases the rebound of the head from the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 increases	nsubj
2	increases	increase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 rebound	det
4	rebound	rebound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increases	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 head	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 head	det
7	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 rebound	nmod
8	from	from	ADP	_	10 ground	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 ground	det
10	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increases	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	present	It	the rebound of the head		the ground			vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.initial_state PP.result»: agent=Patient rebound=Extent from ground=Initial_State
2	rebound		the head						nom rebound «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

It reduces the weight of the head during a fall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 reduces	nsubj
2	reduces	reduce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 weight	det
4	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reduces	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 head	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 head	det
7	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 weight	nmod
8	during	during	ADP	_	10 fall	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 fall	det
10	fall	fall	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reduces	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reduce	present	It	the weight of the head			during a fall		vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer weight=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It prolongs the arrest of the head and so diminishes the force

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 prolongs	nsubj
2	prolongs	prolong	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 arrest	det
4	arrest	arrest	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prolongs	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 head	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 head	det
7	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 arrest	nmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 diminishes	cc
9	so	so	ADV	_	10 diminishes	advmod
10	diminishes	diminish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 prolongs	conj
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 force	det
12	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 diminishes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	prolong	present	It	the arrest of the head	vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent arrest=Theme
2	diminish	present		the force	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer force=Patient
3	arrest			the head	nom arrest «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It prevents the helmet from being displaced by a strong wind when cycling

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 prevents	nsubj
2	prevents	prevent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 helmet	det
4	helmet	helmet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prevents	obj
5	from	from	SCONJ	_	7 displaced	mark
6	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 displaced	aux:pass
7	displaced	displace	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 helmet	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 wind	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 wind	det
10	strong	strong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 wind	amod
11	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 displaced	obl
12	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	13 cycling	advmod
13	cycling	cycle	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 displaced	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	prevent	present	It	the helmet	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer helmet=Theme
2	displace	gerund · passive	a strong wind	the helmet not said here	tree rules
3	cycle	gerund	a strong wind not said here		vn vehicle-51.4.1-1 «NP.theme V»: 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/3-parachutes-and-falling-safely/e2/