Exam question 2 · Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and comets

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the orientation of cometary tails.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, response, established facts · What happens: select, be, establish, concern · To what, where: response, orientation

This is exam question 2 of lesson 15 «Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and comets» of the space 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consistent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consistent	cop
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	acl:relcl
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 facts	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 facts	det
9	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 facts	amod
10	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 consistent	obl
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 facts	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 orientation	det
13	orientation	orientation	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 tails	case
15	cometary	cometary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 tails	amod
16	tails	tail	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 orientation	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	is	present	the response		with the established facts; consistent property	tree rules
3	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the orientation of cometary tails		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus orientation=Experiencer

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

They are invariably directed towards the Earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 directed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 directed	aux:pass
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	4 directed	advmod
4	directed	direct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	towards	towards	ADP	_	7 Earth	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Earth	det
7	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 directed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	direct	present · passive		They				towards the Earth; invariably property	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: subject=Eventuality

Option 2

They trail behind the comet in all positions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 trail	nsubj
2	trail	trail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	behind	behind	ADP	_	5 comet	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 comet	det
5	comet	comet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 trail	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 positions	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 positions	det
8	positions	position	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 trail	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	trail	present	They			the comet		in all positions	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent behind comet=Trajectory

Option 3

Both tails are directed towards the Sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	2 tails	det
2	tails	tail	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 directed	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 directed	aux:pass
4	directed	direct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	towards	towards	ADP	_	7 Sun	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Sun	det
7	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 directed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	direct	present · passive		both tails				towards the Sun	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: subject=Eventuality

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Both tails are directed away from the Sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	2 tails	det
2	tails	tail	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 directed	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 directed	aux:pass
4	directed	direct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	away	away	ADV	_	4 directed	advmod
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 Sun	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Sun	det
8	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 directed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	direct away	present · passive		both tails		the Sun		away property	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: subject=Eventuality

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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