Exam question 4 · Friction: the grip that stops and helps

Determine the reason for which sand is distributed upon icy footpaths.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: determine, distribute · To what, where: reason, sand

This is exam question 4 of lesson 6 «Friction: the grip that stops and helps» 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	Determine	determine	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 Determine	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 distributed	obl
6	sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 distributed	nsubj:pass
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 distributed	aux:pass
8	distributed	distribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 footpaths	case
10	icy	icy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 footpaths	amod
11	footpaths	footpath	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 distributed	obl
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	distribute	present · passive		sand				for the reason; upon icy footpaths	vn contribute-13.2-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=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

It renders the ice transparent

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 renders	nsubj
2	renders	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 ice	det
4	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 renders	obj
5	transparent	transparent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 renders	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present	It	the ice				transparent property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ice=Theme

Option 2

It increases the thickness of the ice beneath

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 increases	nsubj
2	increases	increase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 thickness	det
4	thickness	thickness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increases	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 ice	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ice	det
7	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 thickness	nmod
8	beneath	beneath	PUNCT	_	2 increases	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	present	It	the thickness of the ice					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer thickness=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It furnishes a rough surface affording grip

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 furnishes	nsubj
2	furnishes	furnish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 surface	det
4	rough	rough	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 surface	amod
5	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 furnishes	obj
6	affording	afford	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 surface	acl
7	grip	grip	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 affording	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	furnish	present	It	a rough surface					vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent surface=Recipient
2	afford	gerund	a rough surface not said here	grip					tree rules

Option 4

It raises the temperature of the path

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 raises	nsubj
2	raises	raise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 temperature	det
4	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 raises	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 path	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 path	det
7	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 temperature	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	raise	present	It	the temperature of the path					vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent temperature=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.

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