Exam question 3 · Pushes and pulls: what makes things move and stop

Identify the principal reason for which a person standing upon a skateboard moves backwards upon throwing a heavy ball forwards.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, person · What happens: identify, stand, move, throw · To what, where: principal reason, skateboard, heavy ball

This is exam question 3 of lesson 4 «Pushes and pulls: what makes things move and stop» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 moves	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 person	det
8	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 moves	nsubj
9	standing	stand	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 person	acl
10	upon	upon	ADP	_	12 skateboard	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 skateboard	det
12	skateboard	skateboard	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 standing	obl
13	moves	move	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
14	backwards	backwards	ADV	_	13 moves	advmod
15	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	16 throwing	mark
16	throwing	throw	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	13 moves	advcl
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 ball	det
18	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 ball	amod
19	ball	ball	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 throwing	obj
20	forwards	forwards	ADV	_	16 throwing	advmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	stand	gerund	a person not said here		a skateboard		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon skateboard=Location
3	move	present	a person			for the principal reason; backwards property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme
4	throw	gerund	a person not said here	a heavy ball		forwards property	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ball=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 · ← Mova's choice

The ground exerts a horizontal force towards the rear

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ground	det
2	ground	ground	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 force	det
5	horizontal	horizontal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 force	amod
6	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	obj
7	towards	towards	ADP	_	9 rear	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 rear	det
9	rear	rear	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exert	present	the ground	a horizontal force				towards the rear	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent force=Theme

Option 2

The air in front of the person is compressed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 air	det
2	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 compressed	nsubj:pass
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 front	case
4	front	front	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 air	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 person	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 person	det
7	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 front	nmod
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 compressed	aux:pass
9	compressed	compress	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compress	present · passive		the air in front of the person					vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The ball exerts upon the person a force equal and opposite to that applied

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ball	det
2	ball	ball	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	nsubj
3	exerts	exert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 person	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 person	det
6	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 force	det
8	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exerts	obj
9	equal	equal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 applied	advcl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 opposite	cc
11	opposite	opposite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 equal	conj
12	to	to	ADP	_	13 that	case
13	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	11 opposite	obl
14	applied	apply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 exerts	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exert	present	the ball	a force				upon the person	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent force=Theme
2	apply	participle							vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The skateboard possesses a motion of its own

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 skateboard	det
2	skateboard	skateboard	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	nsubj
3	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 motion	det
5	motion	motion	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 own	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 own	nmod:poss
8	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 motion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	the skateboard	a motion of skateboard's own					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot motion=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/4-pushes-and-pulls-move-and-stop/e3/