Test 7 · Trains and the Underground

«why can't they just go faster on the old wiggly line too» Why does a high-speed train need special track?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: they, speed train · What happens: not go, need · To what, where: old wiggly line, special track

This is test 7 of lesson 21 «Trains and the Underground» of the technology course of Mova's primary school. 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	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 go	punct
2	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	7 go	advmod
3	ca	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 go	aux
4	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 go	advmod
5	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 go	nsubj
6	just	just	ADV	_	7 go	advmod
7	go	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	faster	fast	ADV	Degree=Cmp	7 go	advmod
9	on	on	ADP	_	13 line	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 line	det
11	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 line	amod
12	wiggly	wiggly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 line	amod
13	line	line	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 go	obl
14	too	too	ADV	_	7 go	advmod
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	7 go	punct
16	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	23 need	advmod
17	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	23 need	aux
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	22 train	det
19	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 speed	amod
20	-	-	PUNCT	_	19 high	punct
21	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 train	compound
22	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 need	nsubj
23	need	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 go	advcl
24	special	special	ADJ	Degree=Pos	25 track	amod
25	track	track	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 need	obj
26	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 go	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not go in a quote	can	they			the old wiggly line		fast property	vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on line=Location
2	need	present · do-support	a speed train	special track					vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot track=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

Old lines are too narrow for its extra-wide wheels, so it would fall off the track

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 lines	amod
2	lines	line	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 narrow	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 narrow	cop
4	too	too	ADV	_	5 narrow	advmod
5	narrow	narrow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	for	for	ADP	_	11 wheels	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 wheels	nmod:poss
8	extra	extra	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 wide	amod
9	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 extra	punct
10	wide	wide	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 wheels	amod
11	wheels	wheel	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 narrow	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 fall	punct
13	so	so	ADV	_	16 fall	advmod
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 fall	nsubj
15	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	16 fall	aux
16	fall	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 narrow	conj
17	off	off	ADP	_	16 fall	compound:prt
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 track	det
19	track	track	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 fall	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Old lines					for its wide wheels; narrow property	tree rules
2	fall off	would	it	the track					vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient track=Extent

Option 2

The old lines have no electricity at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 lines	det
2	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 lines	amod
3	lines	line	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 have	nsubj
4	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	6 electricity	det
6	electricity	electricity	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 have	obj
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 all	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 have	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	the old lines	no electricity		all			vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent electricity=Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It needs smooth track with gentle curves to go around 300 km/h safely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 needs	nsubj
2	needs	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	smooth	smooth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 track	amod
4	track	track	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 needs	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 curves	case
6	gentle	gentle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 curves	amod
7	curves	curve	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 needs	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 go	mark
9	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 needs	advcl
10	around	around	ADV	_	11 300	advmod
11	300	300	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	12 km/h	nummod
12	km/h	km/h	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 go	obj
13	safely	safely	ADV	_	9 go	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	need	present	It	smooth track				with gentle curves	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot track=Theme
2	go around	to-infinitive		300 km/h				safely property	vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location km/h=Theme

Option 4

Fast trains can only run on bridges

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fast	fast	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 trains	amod
2	trains	train	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 run	nsubj
3	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 run	aux
4	only	only	ADV	_	5 run	advmod
5	run	run	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	on	on	ADP	_	7 bridges	case
7	bridges	bridge	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 run	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	run	can	Fast trains			bridges			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on bridge=Trajectory

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/t7/