Exam question 3 · Roads and road signs

Ascertain the reason for which salt is distributed upon roads prior to an anticipated frost.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, distribute, anticipate · To what, where: reason, salt

This is exam question 3 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 distributed	obl
6	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 distributed	nsubj:pass
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 distributed	aux:pass
8	distributed	distribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 roads	case
10	roads	road	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 distributed	obl
11	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	15 frost	case
12	to	to	ADP	_	11 prior	fixed
13	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 frost	det
14	anticipated	anticipate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 frost	amod
15	frost	frost	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 distributed	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	distribute	present · passive		salt	for the reason; upon roads; prior a anticipated frost	vn contribute-13.2-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme
3	anticipate	participle				vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: 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

Salt increases the adhesion of tyres to ice

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increases	nsubj
2	increases	increase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 adhesion	det
4	adhesion	adhesion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increases	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 tyres	case
6	tyres	tyre	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 adhesion	nmod
7	to	to	PART	_	8 ice	mark
8	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 increases	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	present	Salt	the adhesion of tyres					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer adhesion=Patient
2	adhere		tyres						nom adhesion «state intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Water containing salt freezes at a lower temperature than pure water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 freezes	nsubj
2	containing	contain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Water	acl
3	salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 containing	obj
4	freezes	freeze	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	8 temperature	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 temperature	det
7	lower	low	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 temperature	amod
8	temperature	temperature	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 freezes	obl
9	than	than	ADP	_	11 water	case
10	pure	pure	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 water	amod
11	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 temperature	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	gerund	Water not said here	salt					vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot salt=Theme
2	freeze	present	Water			a lower temperature than pure water			vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 3

Salt generates heat by slow combustion upon the surface of the road during the night

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 generates	nsubj
2	generates	generate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 generates	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 combustion	case
5	slow	slow	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 combustion	amod
6	combustion	combustion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 generates	obl
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 surface	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 surface	det
9	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 combustion	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 road	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 road	det
12	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 surface	nmod
13	during	during	ADP	_	15 night	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 night	det
15	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 generates	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	generate	present	Salt	heat			night	by slow combustion upon the surface of the road	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heat=Patient

Option 4

Salt absorbs the entirety of the moisture present

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Salt	salt	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	nsubj
2	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 entirety	det
4	entirety	entirety	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 present	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 present	det
7	moisture	moisture	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 present	compound
8	present	present	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 entirety	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	Salt	the entirety of the moisture present					vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal entirety=Theme

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/31-roads-and-road-signs/e3/