Exam question 3 · Diggers, cranes and cement mixers

Ascertain the function of the concrete blocks mounted upon the short arm of a tower crane.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, mount · To what, where: function, concrete blocks, short arm

This is exam question 3 of lesson 28 «Diggers, cranes and cement mixers» 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 function	det
3	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 blocks	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 blocks	det
6	concrete	concrete	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 blocks	compound
7	blocks	block	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 function	nmod
8	mounted	mount	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 blocks	acl
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	12 arm	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 arm	det
11	short	short	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 arm	amod
12	arm	arm	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 mounted	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 crane	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 crane	det
15	tower	tower	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 crane	compound
16	crane	crane	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 arm	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the function of the concrete blocks					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic
2	mount	participle		the concrete blocks not said here		the short arm of a tower crane			vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent upon arm=Destination

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

They furnish the crane driver with a place to rest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 furnish	nsubj
2	furnish	furnish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 driver	det
4	crane	crane	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 driver	compound
5	driver	driver	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 furnish	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 place	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 place	det
8	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 furnish	obl
9	to	to	PART	_	10 rest	mark
10	rest	rest	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 furnish	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	furnish	present	They		the crane driver			with a place	vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent driver=Recipient with place=Theme
2	rest	to-infinitive	They not said here						vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

They render the crane more conspicuous to aircraft

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 render	nsubj
2	render	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 crane	det
4	crane	crane	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 render	obj
5	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 conspicuous	advmod
6	conspicuous	conspicuous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 render	xcomp
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 aircraft	case
8	aircraft	aircraft	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conspicuous	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present	They	the crane				conspicuous property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crane=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They counterbalance the load so that the crane does not overturn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 counterbalance	nsubj
2	counterbalance	counterbalance	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 load	det
4	load	load	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 counterbalance	obj
5	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	11 overturn	mark
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 so	fixed
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 crane	det
8	crane	crane	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 overturn	nsubj
9	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 overturn	aux
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 overturn	advmod
11	overturn	overturn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 counterbalance	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	counterbalance	present	They	the load					tree rules
2	not overturn	present · do-support	the crane						tree rules

Option 4

They are spare materials awaiting use in the construction of the building

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 materials	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 materials	cop
3	spare	spare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 materials	amod
4	materials	material	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	awaiting	await	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 materials	acl
6	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 awaiting	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 construction	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 construction	det
9	construction	construction	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 awaiting	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 building	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 building	det
12	building	building	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 construction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	is a	present	They	spare materials		tree rules
2	await	gerund	spare materials not said here	use	the construction of the building	tree rules
3	construct			the building		nom construction «act transitive»: of=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers/e3/