Exam question 3 · Compasses and the magnetic Earth

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the direction indicated by a compass needle?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, indicate · To what, where: direction

This is exam question 3 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	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 direction	det
10	direction	direction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	indicated	indicate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 direction	acl
12	by	by	ADP	_	15 needle	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 needle	det
14	compass	compass	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 needle	compound
15	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 indicated	obl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the direction	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	indicate	participle	the direction not said here	by a compass needle	vn indicate-78-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot

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 geographic North Pole precisely and without exception

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 Pole	det
2	geographic	geographic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 Pole	amod
3	North	North	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 Pole	compound
4	Pole	Pole	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 precisely	nsubj
5	precisely	precisely	ADV	_	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 exception	cc
7	without	without	ADP	_	8 exception	case
8	exception	exception	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 precisely	conj

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

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Magnetic north, which differs somewhat from the geographic North Pole

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Magnetic	magnetic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 north	amod
2	north	north	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 differs	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 differs	punct
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 differs	nsubj
5	differs	differ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	somewhat	somewhat	ADV	_	5 differs	advmod
7	from	from	ADP	_	11 Pole	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Pole	det
9	geographic	geographic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 Pole	amod
10	North	North	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Pole	compound
11	Pole	Pole	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 differs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	differ	present	Magnetic north					from the geographic North Pole; somewhat property	vn differ-23.4 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme from pole=Co-Theme

Option 3

The position of the Pole Star at all hours

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 position	det
2	position	position	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 Star	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Star	det
5	Pole	Pole	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Star	compound
6	Star	Star	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 position	nmod
7	at	at	ADP	_	9 hours	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 hours	det
9	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 position	nmod

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

Option 4

The direction in which the observer is facing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 direction	det
2	direction	direction	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 facing	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 observer	case
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 observer	nsubj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 observer	det
6	observer	observer	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 direction	nmod
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 facing	aux
8	facing	face	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	face	present · progressive	the direction in the observer						vn fill-9.8-1 «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/30-compasses-and-the-magnetic-earth/e3/