Exam question 1 · Roads and road signs

Identify the principal process by which potholes are formed in road surfaces during the winter months.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, principal process · What happens: identify, form · To what, where: principal process, potholes, road surfaces

This is exam question 1 of lesson 31 «Roads and road signs» 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 process	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 process	amod
4	process	process	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 formed	obl
7	potholes	pothole	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 formed	nsubj:pass
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 formed	aux:pass
9	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 process	acl:relcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 surfaces	case
11	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 surfaces	compound
12	surfaces	surface	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 formed	obl
13	during	during	ADP	_	16 months	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 months	det
15	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 months	compound
16	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 formed	obl
17	.	.	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 process					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent process=Theme
2	form	present · passive	the principal process	potholes		road surfaces	month		vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=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

The sinking of heavy winter tyres into the surface

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sinking	det
2	sinking	sinking	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 tyres	case
4	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 tyres	amod
5	winter	winter	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 tyres	compound
6	tyres	tyre	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 sinking	nmod
7	into	into	ADP	_	9 surface	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 surface	det
9	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 tyres	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sink		heavy winter tyres into the surface						nom sinking «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The contraction of asphalt by cold air until the surface disappears

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 contraction	det
2	contraction	contraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 disappears	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 asphalt	case
4	asphalt	asphalt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contraction	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 air	case
6	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 air	amod
7	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 asphalt	nmod
8	until	until	ADP	_	10 surface	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 surface	det
10	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contraction	nmod
11	disappears	disappear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disappear	present	the contraction of asphalt by cold air until the surface						vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	contract			asphalt by cold air			until the surface		nom contraction «act transitive»: of=patient until=obl

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The ingress of water into cracks, its freezing and expansion, and the subsequent removal of fragments by traffic

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 ingress	det
2	ingress	ingress	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 water	case
4	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ingress	nmod
5	into	into	ADP	_	6 cracks	case
6	cracks	crack	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 ingress	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 freezing	punct
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 freezing	nmod:poss
9	freezing	freezing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ingress	conj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 expansion	cc
11	expansion	expansion	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 freezing	conj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 removal	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 removal	cc
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 removal	det
15	subsequent	subsequent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 removal	amod
16	removal	removal	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ingress	conj
17	of	of	ADP	_	18 fragments	case
18	fragments	fragment	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 removal	nmod
19	by	by	ADP	_	20 traffic	case
20	traffic	traffic	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ingress	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	freeze		water						nom freezing «process intransitive»: poss=agent
2	remove			fragments					nom removal «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The deliberate excavation of the surface by snowploughs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 excavation	det
2	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 excavation	amod
3	excavation	excavation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 surface	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 surface	det
6	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 excavation	nmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 snowploughs	case
8	snowploughs	snowplough	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 excavation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excavate		the surface						nom excavation «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.

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