Exam question 3 · How we know: measuring the sky

Ascertain the means by which the planet Neptune was located in 1846.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the · What happens: ascertain, mean, locate · To what, where: planet, 1846 · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 located	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 planet	det
7	planet	planet	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 located	nsubj:pass
8	Neptune	Neptune	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 planet	appos
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 located	aux:pass
10	located	locate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 means	ccomp
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 1846	case
12	1846	1846	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	10 located	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	locate	past · passive		the planet	1846	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

Observation by a passing spacecraft

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	by	by	ADP	_	5 spacecraft	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 spacecraft	det
4	passing	passing	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 spacecraft	compound
5	spacecraft	spacecraft	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Observation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	observe		a passing spacecraft						nom observation «act transitive»: by=agent

Option 2

Detection of its radio emissions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Detection	detection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 emissions	case
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 emissions	nmod:poss
4	radio	radio	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 emissions	compound
5	emissions	emission	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Detection	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	detect			Detection's radio emissions					nom detection «cognition transitive»: of=patient
2	emit		Detection						nom emission «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Prediction from the disturbed motion of Uranus

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Prediction	prediction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	from	from	ADP	_	5 motion	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 motion	det
4	disturbed	disturb	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 motion	amod
5	motion	motion	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Prediction	nmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 Uranus	case
7	Uranus	Uranus	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 motion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disturb	participle							vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
2	motion		Uranus						nom motion «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

Chance observation with the naked eye

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Chance	chance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 observation	compound
2	observation	observation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	6 eye	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 eye	det
5	naked	naked	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 eye	amod
6	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 observation	nmod

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

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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