Exam question 1 · Why planes fly

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the origin of the lift sustaining an aircraft in flight?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: lift · What happens: follow, characteris, sustain · To what, where: origin, aircraft, flight

This is exam question 1 of lesson 22 «Why planes fly» 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 origin	det
10	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 lift	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 lift	det
13	lift	lift	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 origin	nmod
14	sustaining	sustain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 lift	acl
15	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 aircraft	det
16	aircraft	aircraft	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 sustaining	obj
17	in	in	ADP	_	18 flight	case
18	flight	flight	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 sustaining	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the origin of the lift		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	sustain	gerund	the lift not said here	a aircraft	flight		vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent aircraft=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 heat of the engines causes the aircraft to ascend

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 heat	det
2	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 causes	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 engines	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 engines	det
5	engines	engine	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 heat	nmod
6	causes	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 aircraft	det
8	aircraft	aircraft	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 causes	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 ascend	mark
10	ascend	ascend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 aircraft	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	cause	present	the heat of the engines	the aircraft	vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition aircraft=Patient
2	ascend	to-infinitive	the heat of the engines not said here	the aircraft not said here	vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	heat		the engines		nom heat «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The aircraft becomes lighter than air upon departing the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 aircraft	det
2	aircraft	aircraft	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	nsubj
3	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	lighter	light	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 becomes	xcomp
5	than	than	ADP	_	6 air	case
6	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 lighter	obl
7	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	8 departing	mark
8	departing	depart	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 becomes	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 ground	det
10	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 departing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	the aircraft					light property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	depart	gerund	the aircraft not said here	the ground					vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme ground=Initial_Location

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

The inclined wing deflects air downwards, whereupon the air exerts an upward force upon the wing

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 wing	det
2	inclined	inclined	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 wing	amod
3	wing	wing	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deflects	nsubj
4	deflects	deflect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deflects	obj
6	downwards	downwards	ADV	_	4 deflects	advmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 exerts	punct
8	whereupon	whereupon	ADV	PronType=Int	11 exerts	advmod
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 air	det
10	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 exerts	nsubj
11	exerts	exert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 deflects	conj
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 force	det
13	upward	upward	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 force	amod
14	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 exerts	obj
15	upon	upon	ADP	_	17 wing	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 wing	det
17	wing	wing	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 exerts	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deflect	present	the inclined wing	air				downwards property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent air=Patient
2	exert	present	the air	a upward force				upon the wing; whereupon property	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent force=Theme

Option 4

The air above the wing is obliged to rejoin the air beneath it at the trailing edge

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 air	det
2	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 obliged	nsubj:pass
3	above	above	ADP	_	5 wing	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 wing	det
5	wing	wing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 air	nmod
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 obliged	aux:pass
7	obliged	oblige	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	to	to	PART	_	9 rejoin	mark
9	rejoin	rejoin	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 obliged	xcomp
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 air	det
11	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 rejoin	obj
12	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	13 it	case
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 rejoin	obl
14	at	at	ADP	_	17 edge	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 edge	det
16	trailing	trailing	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 edge	compound
17	edge	edge	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 rejoin	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oblige	present · passive		the air above the wing					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	rejoin	to-infinitive		the air		the trailing edge		beneath air	vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent air=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.

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