Exam question 2 · Escalators and lifts

Ascertain the consequence which would ensue were the hoisting cable of a lift to fail.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, consequence · What happens: ascertain, ensue, hoist, be, fail · To what, where: hoisting cable

This is exam question 2 of lesson 26 «Escalators and lifts» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 consequence	det
3	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 cable	nsubj
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 ensue	nsubj
5	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 ensue	aux
6	ensue	ensue	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 consequence	acl:relcl
7	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 cable	cop
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 cable	det
9	hoisting	hoist	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 cable	amod
10	cable	cable	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 lift	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 lift	det
13	lift	lift	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 cable	nmod
14	to	to	PART	_	15 fail	mark
15	fail	fail	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 lift	acl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	ensue	would	the consequence			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	hoist	gerund				vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	is a	past	the consequence	the hoisting cable	of a lift	tree rules
5	fail	to-infinitive	the consequence not said here			vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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 car would descend unimpeded to the lowest level

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 car	det
2	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 descend	nsubj
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 descend	aux
4	descend	descend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	unimpeded	unimped	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 descend	xcomp
6	to	to	ADP	_	9 level	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 level	det
8	lowest	low	ADJ	Degree=Sup	9 level	amod
9	level	level	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 unimpeded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	descend	would	the car						tree rules
2	unimped	participle	the car not said here					to the lowest level	tree rules

Option 2

The car would be suspended by the air within the shaft

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 car	det
2	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 suspended	nsubj:pass
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 suspended	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 suspended	aux:pass
5	suspended	suspend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 air	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 air	det
8	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 suspended	obl
9	within	within	ADP	_	11 shaft	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 shaft	det
11	shaft	shaft	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 suspended	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suspend	would · passive	the air	the car				within the shaft	vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 3

The car would ascend to the highest level

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 car	det
2	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ascend	nsubj
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 ascend	aux
4	ascend	ascend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	8 level	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 level	det
7	highest	high	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 level	amod
8	level	level	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ascend	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascend	would	the car			the highest level			vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to level=Initial_Location

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Safety brakes would engage the guide rails and arrest the descent of the car

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 brakes	compound
2	brakes	brake	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 engage	nsubj
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 engage	aux
4	engage	engage	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 rails	det
6	guide	guide	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rails	compound
7	rails	rail	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 engage	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 arrest	cc
9	arrest	arrest	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 engage	conj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 descent	det
11	descent	descent	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 arrest	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 car	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 car	det
14	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 descent	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	engage	would	Safety brakes	the guide rails	vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rail=Patient
2	arrest	present	Safety brakes not said here	the descent of the car	vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent descent=Patient
3	descend		the car		nom descent «event 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/26-escalators-and-lifts/e2/