Exam question 4 · Trains and the Underground

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the operation of railway signals?

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

This is exam question 4 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	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	_	13 signals	case
12	railway	railway	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 signals	compound
13	signals	signal	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 operation	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the operation of railway signals	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	operate		railway signals		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

Each signal is changed at random so that drivers remain attentive

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 signal	det
2	signal	signal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 changed	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 changed	aux:pass
4	changed	change	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 random	case
6	random	random	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 changed	obl
7	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	10 remain	mark
8	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 so	fixed
9	drivers	driver	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 remain	nsubj
10	remain	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 changed	advcl
11	attentive	attentive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 remain	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	present · passive		each signal		random			vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	remain	present	drivers					attentive property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The line is divided into sections, and a signal displays red whilst the section ahead is occupied by a train

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 line	det
2	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 divided	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 divided	aux:pass
4	divided	divide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	18 occupied	advcl
5	into	into	ADP	_	6 sections	case
6	sections	section	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 divided	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 displays	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 displays	cc
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 signal	det
10	signal	signal	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 displays	nsubj
11	displays	display	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 divided	conj
12	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 displays	xcomp
13	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	15 section	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 section	det
15	section	section	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 displays	obl
16	ahead	ahead	ADV	_	11 displays	advmod
17	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 occupied	aux:pass
18	occupied	occupy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
19	by	by	ADP	_	21 train	case
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 train	det
21	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 occupied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	divide	present · passive		the line	sections		vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	display	present	a signal			whilst the section; ahead, red property	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	occupy	present · passive				by a train	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»

Option 3

A signal displays red only during the hours of darkness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 signal	det
2	signal	signal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 displays	nsubj
3	displays	display	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	red	red	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 displays	xcomp
5	only	only	ADV	_	8 hours	advmod
6	during	during	ADP	_	8 hours	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 hours	det
8	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 displays	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 darkness	case
10	darkness	darkness	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 hours	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	display	present	a signal				hour	red property	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Signals serve solely to inform passengers of the time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Signals	signal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 serve	advmod
4	to	to	PART	_	5 inform	mark
5	inform	inform	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serve	advcl
6	passengers	passenger	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 inform	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 time	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 time	det
9	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 passengers	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	Signals					solely property	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
2	inform speech: other	to-infinitive	Signals not said here		passengers of the time				vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent passenger=Recipient

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/e4/