Exam question 3 · Day and night, and the Moon's faces

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the phases of the Moon?

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

This is exam question 3 of lesson 39 «Day and night, and the Moon's faces» 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 phases	det
10	phases	phase	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 Moon	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Moon	det
13	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 phases	nmod
14	?	?	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 phases of the Moon				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

The Moon emits varying quantities of its own light

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Moon	det
2	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 emits	nsubj
3	emits	emit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	varying	vary	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 emits	xcomp
5	quantities	quantity	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 varying	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 light	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 light	nmod:poss
8	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 light	amod
9	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 quantities	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	emit	present	the Moon		tree rules
2	vary	gerund	the Moon not said here	quantities of Moon's own light	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer quantity=Patient
3	light		Moon		nom light «phenomenon transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Varying portions of its sunlit half are visible as it orbits the Earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Varying	vary	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 portions	amod
2	portions	portion	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 visible	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 half	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 half	nmod:poss
5	sunlit	sunlit	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 half	amod
6	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	2 portions	nmod
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 visible	cop
8	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	11 orbits	mark
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 orbits	nsubj
11	orbits	orbit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 visible	advcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Earth	det
13	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 orbits	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	vary	gerund				vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	is	present	Varying portions of its sunlit half		visible property	tree rules
3	orbit	present	half	the Earth		tree rules

Option 3

The Moon alters in actual size through the month

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Moon	det
2	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 alters	nsubj
3	alters	alter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 size	case
5	actual	actual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 size	amod
6	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 alters	obl
7	through	through	ADP	_	9 month	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 month	det
9	month	month	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 alters	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	alter	present	the Moon			actual size	month		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

The Earth's shadow obscures varying portions of it each night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Earth	det
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 obscures	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 Earth	case
4	shadow	shadow	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 obscures	compound
5	obscures	obscure	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
6	varying	vary	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 obscures	acl
7	portions	portion	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 varying	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 it	case
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 portions	nmod
10	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	11 night	det
11	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 varying	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	vary	gerund	the Earth's shadow obscures not said here	portions of Earth			night		vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer portion=Patient

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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