Exam question 3 · Pulleys, gears and big machines

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the purpose of the counterweight of a lift?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: counterweight · What happens: follow, characteris, purpose · To what, where: purpose

This is exam question 3 of lesson 35 «Pulleys, gears and big machines» 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 purpose	det
10	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 counterweight	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 counterweight	det
13	counterweight	counterweight	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 purpose	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 lift	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 lift	det
16	lift	lift	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 counterweight	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the purpose of the counterweight of a lift	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	purpose		the counterweight of a lift			nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=agent

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 prevents the car from ascending beyond the uppermost floor

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 car	det
4	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prevents	obj
5	from	from	SCONJ	_	6 ascending	mark
6	ascending	ascend	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 prevents	advcl
7	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	10 floor	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 floor	det
9	uppermost	uppermost	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 floor	amod
10	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 ascending	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevent	present	It	the car					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer car=Theme
2	ascend	gerund						beyond the uppermost floor	vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

It secures the doors in a closed position

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 secures	nsubj
2	secures	secure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 doors	det
4	doors	door	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 secures	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 position	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 position	det
7	closed	close	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 position	amod
8	position	position	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 secures	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	secure	present	It	the doors		a closed position			vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition door=Theme
2	close	participle							vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

It is held in reserve against the failure of the car

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	3 held	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 held	aux:pass
3	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 reserve	case
5	reserve	reserve	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 held	obl
6	against	against	ADP	_	8 failure	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 failure	det
8	failure	failure	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 held	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 car	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 car	det
11	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 failure	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	present · passive		It		reserve		against the failure of the car	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in reserve=Location
2	fail		the car						nom failure «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It balances the car so that the motor need raise only the difference in weight

The tree, 15 words

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 balances	nsubj
2	balances	balance	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 car	det
4	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 balances	obj
5	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	9 need	mark
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 so	fixed
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 motor	det
8	motor	motor	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 need	nsubj
9	need	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 balances	advcl
10	raise	raise	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 need	obj
11	only	only	ADV	_	13 difference	advmod
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 difference	det
13	difference	difference	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 need	obj
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 weight	case
15	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 need	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	balance	present	It	the car					vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location car=Theme
2	need	present	the motor	raise		weight			tree rules

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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