Exam question 1 · Ships, ports and submarines

Identify the principal reason for which a vessel constructed of steel remains afloat, notwithstanding that a steel nail sinks.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, vessel, steel nail · What happens: identify, construct, remain, notwithstand, sink · To what, where: principal reason, vessel

This is exam question 1 of lesson 24 «Ships, ports and submarines» 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	12 remains	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 vessel	det
8	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 remains	nsubj
9	constructed	construct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 vessel	acl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 steel	case
11	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 constructed	obl
12	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
13	afloat	afloat	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 remains	xcomp
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 notwithstanding	punct
15	notwithstanding	notwithstand	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 remains	advcl
16	that	that	SCONJ	_	20 sinks	mark
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 nail	det
18	steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 nail	compound
19	nail	nail	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 sinks	nsubj
20	sinks	sink	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 notwithstanding	advcl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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	construct	participle		a vessel not said here	of steel	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	remain	present	a vessel		for the principal reason; afloat property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	notwithstand	gerund	a vessel not said here			tree rules
5	sink	present	a steel nail			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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

Steel is rendered lighter upon immersion in sea water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Steel	steel	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 rendered	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 rendered	aux:pass
3	rendered	render	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	lighter	light	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 rendered	xcomp
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 immersion	case
6	immersion	immersion	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 rendered	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 water	case
8	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 water	compound
9	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 immersion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present · passive		Steel				upon immersion in sea water; light property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

The vessel is filled with a gas lighter than air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 vessel	det
2	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 filled	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 filled	aux:pass
4	filled	fill	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 gas	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 gas	det
7	gas	gas	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 filled	obl
8	lighter	light	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 gas	amod
9	than	than	ADP	_	10 air	case
10	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 lighter	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fill	present · passive		the vessel				with a gas	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with gas=Instrument

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Its hollow form displaces a volume of water the weight of which equals that of the vessel

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 form	nmod:poss
2	hollow	hollow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 form	amod
3	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 displaces	nsubj
4	displaces	displace	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 volume	det
6	volume	volume	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 displaces	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 water	case
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 volume	nmod
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 weight	det
10	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 displaces	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 which	case
12	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 equals	nsubj
13	equals	equal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 weight	acl:relcl
14	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	13 equals	obj
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 vessel	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 vessel	det
17	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 that	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	displace	present	Its hollow form	a volume of water	tree rules
2	equal	present	the weight	the weight	tree rules
3	form		Its = it		nom form «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

The vessel is supported continually by the motion of the waves

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 vessel	det
2	vessel	vessel	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supported	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 supported	aux:pass
4	supported	support	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	continually	continually	ADV	_	4 supported	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 motion	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 motion	det
8	motion	motion	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supported	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 waves	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 waves	det
11	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 motion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	support	present · passive	the motion of the waves	the vessel				continually property	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus
2	motion		the waves						nom motion «communication intransitive»: of=agent

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/24-ships-ports-and-submarines/e1/