Exam question 1 · Tunnels and what lies under the street

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the operation of a tunnel-boring machine?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, operate · To what, where: operation, boring machine

This is exam question 1 of lesson 29 «Tunnels and what lies under the street» 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 operation	det
10	operation	operation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	16 machine	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 machine	det
13	tunnel	tunnel	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 boring	compound
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	13 tunnel	punct
15	boring	boring	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 machine	amod
16	machine	machine	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 operation	nmod
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the operation of a boring machine	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	operate		a boring machine		nom operation «state transitive»: of=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

The machine excavates without any lining being installed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 machine	det
2	machine	machine	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 excavates	nsubj
3	excavates	excavate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	without	without	ADP	_	6 lining	case
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 lining	det
6	lining	lining	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 excavates	obl
7	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 installed	aux:pass
8	installed	install	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 lining	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excavate	present	the machine					without any lining	vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent
2	install	gerund · passive		any lining not said here					vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A rotating cutting wheel excavates the rock or soil, whilst concrete segments are erected in rings behind the machine

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 wheel	det
2	rotating	rotate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 wheel	amod
3	cutting	cutting	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 wheel	compound
4	wheel	wheel	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 excavates	nsubj
5	excavates	excavate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 rock	det
7	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 excavates	obj
8	or	or	CCONJ	_	9 soil	cc
9	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rock	conj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 erected	punct
11	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	15 erected	mark
12	concrete	concrete	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 segments	compound
13	segments	segment	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 erected	nsubj:pass
14	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 erected	aux:pass
15	erected	erect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 excavates	conj
16	in	in	ADP	_	17 rings	case
17	rings	ring	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 erected	obl
18	behind	behind	ADP	_	20 machine	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 machine	det
20	machine	machine	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 erected	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	rotate	gerund					vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	excavate	present	a rotating cutting wheel	the rock or soil			vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent rock=Location
3	erect	present · passive		concrete segments	rings	behind the machine	vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Product

Option 3

The machine melts the rock by the application of heat

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 machine	det
2	machine	machine	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 melts	nsubj
3	melts	melt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 rock	det
5	rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 melts	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 application	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 application	det
8	application	application	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 melts	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 heat	case
10	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 application	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	melt	present	the machine	the rock				by the application of heat	vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient rock=Result
2	apply		heat						nom application «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

The machine displaces the soil laterally without excavation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 machine	det
2	machine	machine	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 displaces	nsubj
3	displaces	displace	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 soil	det
5	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 displaces	obj
6	laterally	laterally	ADV	_	3 displaces	advmod
7	without	without	ADP	_	8 excavation	case
8	excavation	excavation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 displaces	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	displace	present	the machine	the soil				without excavation; laterally property	tree rules

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/29-tunnels-and-under-the-street/e1/