Exam question 3 · Power stations and the grid
Ascertain the reason for which electricity is transmitted over long distances at a very high voltage.
Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, transmit · To what, where: reason, electricity, high voltage
This is exam question 3 of lesson 32 «Power stations and the grid» 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 transmitted | obl |
| 6 | electricity | electricity | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 transmitted | nsubj:pass |
| 7 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 transmitted | aux:pass |
| 8 | transmitted | transmit | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 reason | acl:relcl |
| 9 | over | over | ADV | _ | 10 long | advmod |
| 10 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 distances | amod |
| 11 | distances | distance | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 transmitted | obj |
| 12 | at | at | ADP | _ | 16 voltage | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 voltage | det |
| 14 | very | very | ADV | _ | 15 high | advmod |
| 15 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 voltage | amod |
| 16 | voltage | voltage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 transmitted | obl |
| 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 reason | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic | ||||
| 2 | transmit | present · passive | electricity | a high voltage | for the reason | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Destination distance=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 right answer
The quantity of energy lost in transmission is thereby reduced
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 quantity | det |
| 2 | quantity | quantity | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 reduced | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 energy | case |
| 4 | energy | energy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 quantity | nmod |
| 5 | lost | lose | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 quantity | acl |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 transmission | case |
| 7 | transmission | transmission | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 lost | obl |
| 8 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 reduced | aux:pass |
| 9 | thereby | thereby | ADV | _ | 10 reduced | advmod |
| 10 | reduced | reduce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lose | participle | the quantity of energy not said here | transmission | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S_ING»: agent=Agent in transmission=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | reduce | present · passive | the quantity of energy | thereby property | vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
Option 2 · ← Mova's choice
Electricity of low voltage is incapable of ascending hills
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electricity | electricity | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 incapable | nsubj |
| 2 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 voltage | case |
| 3 | low | low | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 voltage | amod |
| 4 | voltage | voltage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Electricity | nmod |
| 5 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 incapable | cop |
| 6 | incapable | incapable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 7 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 8 ascending | mark |
| 8 | ascending | ascend | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 6 incapable | advcl |
| 9 | hills | hill | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 ascending | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | Electricity of low voltage | incapable property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | ascend | gerund | Electricity of low voltage not said here | hills | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme hill=Trajectory | ||||
| 3 | electrify | low voltage | nom electricity «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |
Option 3
The weight of the conductors is thereby reduced
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 weight | det |
| 2 | weight | weight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 reduced | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 conductors | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 conductors | det |
| 5 | conductors | conductor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 weight | nmod |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 reduced | aux:pass |
| 7 | thereby | thereby | ADV | _ | 8 reduced | advmod |
| 8 | reduced | reduce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reduce | present · passive | the weight of the conductors | thereby property | vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
Option 4
Birds are thereby prevented from alighting upon the conductors
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birds | bird | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 prevented | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 prevented | aux:pass |
| 3 | thereby | thereby | ADV | _ | 4 prevented | advmod |
| 4 | prevented | prevent | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | from | from | SCONJ | _ | 6 alighting | mark |
| 6 | alighting | alight | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 prevented | advcl |
| 7 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 9 conductors | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 conductors | det |
| 9 | conductors | conductor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 alighting | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | prevent | present · passive | Birds | thereby property | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 2 | alight | gerund | upon the conductors | 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/32-power-stations-and-the-grid/e3/