Exam question 3 · Car safety: brakes, seat belts and airbags

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the operation of anti-lock braking systems?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: anti-lock · What happens: follow, characteris, brake, operate · To what, where: operation, systems, anti-lock

This is exam question 3 of lesson 18 «Car safety: brakes, seat belts and airbags» of the technology 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 operation	det
10	operation	operation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 anti-lock	case
12	anti-lock	anti-lock	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 operation	nmod
13	braking	brake	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 anti-lock	acl
14	systems	system	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 braking	obj
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the operation of anti-lock	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	brake	gerund	anti-lock not said here	systems		tree rules
4	operate			anti-lock		nom operation «state transitive»: of=patient

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 right answer

The brakes are released and reapplied many times per second to retain steering

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 brakes	det
2	brakes	brake	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 released	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 released	aux:pass
4	released	release	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 reapplied	cc
6	reapplied	reapply	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 released	conj
7	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 times	amod
8	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 reapplied	obl:unmarked
9	per	per	ADP	_	10 second	case
10	second	second	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 times	nmod
11	to	to	PART	_	12 retain	mark
12	retain	retain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 reapplied	advcl
13	steering	steering	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 retain	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	when	roles by
1	release	present · passive	the brakes		vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Source
2	reapply	past		time	tree rules
3	retain	to-infinitive	steering		tree rules

Option 2

The engine is reversed to arrest the vehicle

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 engine	det
2	engine	engine	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reversed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reversed	aux:pass
4	reversed	reverse	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 arrest	mark
6	arrest	arrest	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reversed	xcomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 vehicle	det
8	vehicle	vehicle	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 arrest	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reverse	present · passive		the engine					tree rules
2	arrest	to-infinitive		the vehicle					vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vehicle=Patient

Option 3

The brakes are disabled upon wet surfaces

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 brakes	det
2	brakes	brake	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 disabled	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 disabled	aux:pass
4	disabled	disable	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 surfaces	case
6	wet	wet	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 surfaces	amod
7	surfaces	surface	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 disabled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disable	present · passive		the brakes				upon wet surfaces	vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient

Option 4

The wheels are locked so as to shorten all stopping distances

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wheels	det
2	wheels	wheel	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 locked	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 locked	aux:pass
4	locked	lock	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	so	so	ADV	_	8 shorten	advmod
6	as	as	SCONJ	_	8 shorten	mark
7	to	to	PART	_	8 shorten	mark
8	shorten	shorten	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 locked	advcl
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	11 distances	det
10	stopping	stopping	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 distances	compound
11	distances	distance	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 shorten	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lock	present · passive		the wheels					vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	shorten	to-infinitive		all stopping distances					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent distance=Patient

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/technology/18-car-safety/e3/