Exam question 2 · Bridges and skyscrapers

Identify the principal function of expansion joints upon a bridge.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify · To what, where: principal function

This is exam question 2 of lesson 30 «Bridges and skyscrapers» 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 function	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 function	amod
4	function	function	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 joints	case
6	expansion	expansion	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 joints	compound
7	joints	joint	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 function	nmod
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 bridge	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 bridge	det
10	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 joints	nmod
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal function of expansion joints upon a bridge					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent function=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 · ← Mova's choice

They permit the bridge to be folded during winter

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 permit	nsubj
2	permit	permit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 bridge	det
4	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 permit	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	7 folded	mark
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 folded	aux:pass
7	folded	fold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 permit	advcl
8	during	during	ADP	_	9 winter	case
9	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 folded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	present	They	the bridge					vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bridge=Theme
2	fold	to-infinitive · passive	They not said here				winter		vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»

Option 2

They compel motorists to reduce their speed

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 compel	nsubj
2	compel	compel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	motorists	motorist	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 compel	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 reduce	mark
5	reduce	reduce	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 compel	advcl
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 speed	nmod:poss
7	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 reduce	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compel	present	They	motorists					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent motorist=Patient
2	reduce	to-infinitive	They not said here	motorists's speed					vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer speed=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They permit the structure to lengthen in heat and contract in cold without damage

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 permit	nsubj
2	permit	permit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 structure	det
4	structure	structure	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 permit	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 lengthen	mark
6	lengthen	lengthen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 permit	advcl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 heat	case
8	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 lengthen	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 contract	cc
10	contract	contract	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 heat	conj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 cold	case
12	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 contract	nmod
13	without	without	ADP	_	14 damage	case
14	damage	damage	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 lengthen	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	present	They	the structure					vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent structure=Theme
2	lengthen	to-infinitive	They not said here			heat and contract in cold		without damage	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 4

They facilitate the drainage of rainwater from the carriageway

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 facilitate	nsubj
2	facilitate	facilitate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 drainage	det
4	drainage	drainage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 facilitate	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 rainwater	case
6	rainwater	rainwater	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drainage	nmod
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 carriageway	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 carriageway	det
9	carriageway	carriageway	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 facilitate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	facilitate	present	They	the drainage of rainwater		the carriageway			tree rules
2	drain		rainwater						nom drainage «act 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/30-bridges-and-skyscrapers/e2/