Exam question 2 · Telescopes and light

Ascertain the reason for which X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes are required to operate in space.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, require, operate · To what, where: reason, X ray, space

This is exam question 2 of lesson 27 «Telescopes and light» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	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 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	15 required	obl
6	X	x	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ray	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 X	punct
8	ray	ray	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 required	nsubj:pass
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 telescopes	cc
10	gamma	gamma	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 ray	compound
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 gamma	punct
12	ray	ray	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 telescopes	compound
13	telescopes	telescope	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 ray	conj
14	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 required	aux:pass
15	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	parataxis
16	to	to	PART	_	17 operate	mark
17	operate	operate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 required	xcomp
18	in	in	ADP	_	19 space	case
19	space	space	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 operate	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	require	present · passive		X ray and ray telescopes		for the reason	vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
3	operate	to-infinitive			space		vn function-105.2.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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

Such telescopes are too heavy for the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 telescopes	amod
2	telescopes	telescope	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 heavy	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 heavy	cop
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 heavy	advmod
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 ground	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 ground	det
8	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 heavy	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Such telescopes					for the ground; heavy property	tree rules

Option 2

Such rays are produced only near the Moon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 rays	amod
2	rays	ray	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 produced	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 produced	aux:pass
4	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	only	only	ADV	_	8 Moon	advmod
6	near	near	ADP	_	8 Moon	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Moon	det
8	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 produced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	present · passive		Such rays		the Moon			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The atmosphere of the Earth blocks such rays

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 atmosphere	det
2	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 blocks	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 blocks	det
5	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 blocks	compound
6	blocks	block	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 atmosphere	nmod
7	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 rays	amod
8	rays	ray	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 blocks	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

Such rays are too faint at night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 rays	amod
2	rays	ray	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 faint	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 faint	cop
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 faint	advmod
5	faint	faint	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 night	case
7	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 faint	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Such rays				night	faint property	tree rules

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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