Exam question 2 · Compasses and the magnetic Earth

Ascertain the reason for which a compass ought not to be employed in proximity to a steel object.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, not employ · To what, where: reason, compass, proximity

This is exam question 2 of lesson 30 «Compasses and the magnetic Earth» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 employed	obl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 compass	det
7	compass	compass	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 employed	nsubj:pass
8	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 employed	aux
9	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 employed	advmod
10	to	to	PART	_	12 employed	mark
11	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	12 employed	aux:pass
12	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 proximity	case
14	proximity	proximity	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 employed	obl
15	to	to	ADP	_	18 object	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 object	det
17	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 object	compound
18	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 employed	obl
19	.	.	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 reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	not employ	ought · passive	you not said here	a compass		proximity		for the reason; to a steel object	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for which=Eventuality

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 steel reverses the direction of the Earth's rotation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 steel	det
2	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reverses	nsubj
3	reverses	reverse	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 direction	det
5	direction	direction	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reverses	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	10 rotation	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Earth	det
8	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 rotation	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 Earth	case
10	rotation	rotation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 direction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reverse	present	the steel	the direction of the Earth's rotation					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent direction=Patient
2	rotate		the Earth						nom rotation «act intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

The steel renders the needle too heavy to rotate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 steel	det
2	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 renders	nsubj
3	renders	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 needle	det
5	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 renders	obj
6	too	too	ADV	_	7 heavy	advmod
7	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 needle	amod
8	to	to	PART	_	9 rotate	mark
9	rotate	rotate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 heavy	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present	the steel	the needle					vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent needle=Theme
2	rotate	to-infinitive	the steel not said here						vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The steel exerts a stronger influence upon the needle than the Earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 steel	det
2	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	nsubj
3	exerts	exert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 influence	det
5	stronger	strong	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	6 influence	amod
6	influence	influence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	obj
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 needle	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 needle	det
9	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	obl
10	than	than	ADP	_	12 Earth	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Earth	det
12	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 needle	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exert	present	the steel	a stronger influence				upon the needle than the Earth	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent influence=Theme

Option 4

The steel deprives the compass of the electrical supply upon which it depends

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 steel	det
2	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 deprives	nsubj
3	deprives	deprive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 compass	det
5	compass	compass	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 deprives	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 supply	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 supply	det
8	electrical	electrical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 supply	amod
9	supply	supply	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 compass	nmod
10	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 which	case
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 depends	obl
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 depends	nsubj
13	depends	depend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 supply	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deprive	present	the steel	the compass of the electrical supply					vn deprive-10.6.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent compass=Source
2	depend	present	it					upon the electrical supply	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent

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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