Exam question 4 · Parachutes, skydivers and falling safely

Ascertain the advantage to a tree of seeds that descend slowly.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, seeds · What happens: ascertain, descend · To what, where: advantage

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 advantage	det
3	advantage	advantage	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 tree	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 tree	det
6	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 seeds	case
8	seeds	seed	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 tree	nmod
9	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 descend	nsubj
10	descend	descend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 seeds	acl:relcl
11	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	10 descend	advmod
12	.	.	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 advantage				to a tree of seeds	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent advantage=Topic
2	descend	present	seeds					slowly property	vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=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

The seeds germinate in the air some time before landing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 seeds	det
2	seeds	seed	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 germinate	nsubj
3	germinate	germinate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 air	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 air	det
6	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 germinate	obl
7	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	8 time	det
8	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 germinate	obl:unmarked
9	before	before	SCONJ	_	10 landing	mark
10	landing	land	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 germinate	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	germinate	present	the seeds			the air	time		vn entity_specific_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	land	gerund	the seeds not said here						vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

The seeds are rendered heavier upon landing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 seeds	det
2	seeds	seed	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 rendered	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 rendered	aux:pass
4	rendered	render	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	heavier	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	4 rendered	xcomp
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 landing	case
7	landing	landing	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 rendered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present · passive		the seeds				upon landing; heavy property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The wind may convey them to a distance from the parent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wind	det
2	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 convey	nsubj
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 convey	aux
4	convey	convey	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 convey	obj
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 distance	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 distance	det
8	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 convey	obl
9	from	from	ADP	_	11 parent	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 parent	det
11	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 distance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convey	may	the wind	them = they	a distance from the parent				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Topic to distance=Recipient

Option 4

The seeds are protected from all animals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 seeds	det
2	seeds	seed	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 protected	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 protected	aux:pass
4	protected	protect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 animals	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 animals	det
7	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 protected	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	protect	present · passive		the seeds				from all animals	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Beneficiary from animal=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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