Exam question 4 · Olympiad: stars, light and space history ★★★

Explain why stars observed from the International Space Station do not twinkle.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, stars · What happens: explain, observe, not twinkle · To what, where: International Space Station · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 32 «Olympiad: stars, light and space history ★★★» 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	Explain	explain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	4 observed	advmod
3	stars	star	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 observed	nsubj
4	observed	observe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 twinkle	advcl
5	from	from	ADP	_	9 Station	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Station	det
7	International	International	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Station	compound
8	Space	Space	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Station	compound
9	Station	Station	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 observed	obl
10	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 twinkle	aux
11	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 twinkle	advmod
12	twinkle	twinkle	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Explain	ccomp
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Explain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	imperative	you not said here		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	observe	past	stars	the International Space Station	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	not twinkle	present · do-support			vn light_emission-43.1 «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

The station spins too fast for twinkling

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 station	det
2	station	station	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 spins	nsubj
3	spins	spin	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 fast	advmod
5	fast	fast	ADV	Degree=Pos	3 spins	advmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 twinkling	case
7	twinkling	twinkling	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 spins	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	spin	present	the station					for twinkling; fast property	vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for twinkling=Beneficiary

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Their light does not pass through moving air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 light	nmod:poss
2	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 pass	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 pass	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 pass	advmod
5	pass	pass	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	through	through	ADP	_	8 air	case
7	moving	move	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 air	amod
8	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 pass	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	roles by
1	not pass	present · do-support	Their light	moving air	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through air=Location
2	move	gerund			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme
3	light		Their = they		nom light «phenomenon transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

The station's windows filter starlight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 station	det
2	station	station	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 windows	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 station	case
4	windows	window	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 filter	nsubj
5	filter	filter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	starlight	starlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 filter	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	filter	present	the station's windows	starlight					vn wipe_instr-10.4.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=Agent starlight=Initial_Location

Option 4

The stars are much nearer to the station

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 stars	det
2	stars	star	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 nearer	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 nearer	cop
4	much	much	ADV	_	5 nearer	advmod
5	nearer	near	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 station	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 station	det
8	station	station	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 nearer	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the stars					to the station; near 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/e4/