Exam question 3 · Stars: what they are

State the principal reason for the twinkling of stars as observed from the surface of the Earth.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: observe · To what, where: State principal reason, surface

This is exam question 3 of lesson 17 «Stars: what they are» 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	State	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	compound
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	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 twinkling	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 twinkling	det
7	twinkling	twinkling	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 stars	case
9	stars	star	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 twinkling	nmod
10	as	as	SCONJ	_	11 observed	mark
11	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 surface	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 surface	det
14	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 observed	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 Earth	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 Earth	det
17	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 surface	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 reason	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe	participle		the State principal reason for the twinkling of stars not said here		the surface of the Earth			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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

The intermittent extinction and rekindling of their light

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 extinction	det
2	intermittent	intermittent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 extinction	amod
3	extinction	extinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 rekindling	cc
5	rekindling	rekindle	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 extinction	conj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 light	case
7	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 light	nmod:poss
8	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 rekindling	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rekindle	gerund						of their light	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	light		their = they						nom light «phenomenon transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The refraction of their light by moving layers of air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 refraction	det
2	refraction	refraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 light	case
4	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 light	nmod:poss
5	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 refraction	nmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 layers	case
7	moving	move	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 layers	amod
8	layers	layer	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 refraction	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 air	case
10	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 layers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	move	gerund			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme
2	refract		moving layers of air	their light	nom refraction «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient by=agent
3	light		their = they		nom light «phenomenon transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

The passage of birds across their light

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 passage	det
2	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 birds	case
4	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 passage	nmod
5	across	across	ADP	_	7 light	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 light	nmod:poss
7	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 passage	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pass		birds			birds's light			nom passage «act intransitive»: of=agent across=place
2	light		birds = bird						nom light «phenomenon transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

The rapid rotation of the stars

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 rotation	det
2	rapid	rapid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 rotation	amod
3	rotation	rotation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 stars	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 stars	det
6	stars	star	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 rotation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rotate		the stars						nom rotation «act intransitive»: of=agent

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/space/17-stars-what-they-are/e3/