Exam question 1 · How we know: measuring the sky

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the method of stellar parallax?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: method

This is exam question 1 of lesson 28 «How we know: measuring the sky» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 method	det
10	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 parallax	case
12	stellar	stellar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 parallax	amod
13	parallax	parallax	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 method	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the method of stellar parallax				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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 pulsation of certain variable stars

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

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

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pulsate			certain variable stars					nom pulsation «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The apparent shift of a nearby star as the Earth orbits the Sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 shift	det
2	apparent	apparent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 shift	amod
3	shift	shift	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 orbits	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 star	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 star	det
6	nearby	nearby	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 star	amod
7	star	star	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 shift	nmod
8	as	as	ADP	_	10 Earth	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Earth	det
10	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 star	nmod
11	orbits	orbit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Sun	det
13	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 orbits	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	orbit	present	the apparent shift of a nearby star as the Earth	the Sun					tree rules
2	shift			a nearby star as the Earth					nom shift «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The stretching of light from galaxies which are receding from the Earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stretching	det
2	stretching	stretching	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 light	case
4	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 stretching	nmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	6 galaxies	case
6	galaxies	galaxy	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 light	nmod
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 receding	nsubj
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 receding	aux
9	receding	recede	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 stretching	acl:relcl
10	from	from	ADP	_	12 Earth	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Earth	det
12	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 receding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	recede	present · progressive	the stretching of light from galaxies			the Earth			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from earth=Initial_Location
2	stretch			light from galaxies					nom stretching «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The variation in colour of a star with its temperature

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 variation	det
2	variation	variation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 colour	case
4	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 variation	nmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 star	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 star	det
7	star	star	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 variation	nmod
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 temperature	case
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 temperature	nmod:poss
10	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 star	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	vary		a star with star's temperature			colour			nom variation «event intransitive»: in=place 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/28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky/e1/