Exam question 1 · Trains and the Underground

Identify the principal reason for which a railway train requires a considerable distance in order to come to a halt.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, railway train · What happens: identify, require, come · To what, where: principal reason, considerable distance, order, halt

This is exam question 1 of lesson 21 «Trains and the Underground» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 requires	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 train	det
8	railway	railway	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 train	compound
9	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 requires	nsubj
10	requires	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 distance	det
12	considerable	considerable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 distance	amod
13	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 requires	obj
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 order	case
15	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 requires	obl
16	to	to	PART	_	17 come	mark
17	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 requires	advcl
18	to	to	ADP	_	20 halt	case
19	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 halt	det
20	halt	halt	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 come	obl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	require	present	a railway train	a considerable distance	order	for the principal reason	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme distance=Precondition
3	come	to-infinitive	a railway train not said here		a halt		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to halt=Initial_Location

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 rails are designed to accelerate any train that attempts to slow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rails	det
2	rails	rail	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 designed	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 designed	aux:pass
4	designed	design	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 accelerate	mark
6	accelerate	accelerate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 designed	advcl
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	8 train	det
8	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 accelerate	obj
9	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 attempts	nsubj
10	attempts	attempt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 train	acl:relcl
11	to	to	PART	_	12 slow	mark
12	slow	slow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 attempts	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	design	present · passive		the rails	vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	accelerate	to-infinitive		any train	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent train=Patient
3	attempt	present	any train		vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
4	slow not said to happen	to-infinitive	any train not said here		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

Railway trains are not equipped with brakes of any description

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Railway	railway	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 trains	compound
2	trains	train	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 equipped	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 equipped	aux:pass
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 equipped	advmod
5	equipped	equip	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 brakes	case
7	brakes	brake	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 equipped	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 description	case
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	10 description	det
10	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 brakes	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not equip	present · passive		Railway trains				with brakes of any description	vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: subject=Recipient with brake=Theme

Option 3

Braking is permitted exclusively within the confines of a station

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Braking	braking	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 permitted	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 permitted	aux:pass
3	permitted	permit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 permitted	advmod
5	within	within	ADP	_	7 confines	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 confines	det
7	confines	confines	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 permitted	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 station	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 station	det
10	station	station	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 confines	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	present · passive		Braking				within the confines of a station; exclusively property	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The low friction between steel wheels and steel rails permits the train to roll with great ease, so that braking is protracted

The tree, 22 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 friction	det
2	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 friction	amod
3	friction	friction	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 permits	nsubj
4	between	between	ADP	_	6 wheels	case
5	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 wheels	compound
6	wheels	wheel	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 friction	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 rails	cc
8	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 rails	compound
9	rails	rail	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 wheels	conj
10	permits	permit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 train	det
12	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 permits	obj
13	to	to	PART	_	14 roll	mark
14	roll	roll	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 train	acl
15	with	with	ADP	_	17 ease	case
16	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 ease	amod
17	ease	ease	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 roll	obl
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 protracted	punct
19	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	23 protracted	mark
20	that	that	SCONJ	_	19 so	fixed
21	braking	braking	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 protracted	nsubj:pass
22	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	23 protracted	aux:pass
23	protracted	protract	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 permits	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	permit	present	the low friction between steel wheels and steel rails	the train		vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent train=Theme
2	roll	to-infinitive	the low friction between steel wheels and steel rails not said here	the train not said here	with great ease	vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with ease=Theme
3	protract	present · passive		braking		vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Theme

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/21-trains-and-the-underground/e1/