Exam question 1 · Phones and how a call travels

Identify the principal means by which a mobile telephone communicates with the nearest mast.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, principal, mobile telephone · What happens: identify, mean, communicate

This is exam question 1 of lesson 35 «Phones and how a call travels» 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	3 principal	det
3	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 means	nsubj
4	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 communicates	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 telephone	det
8	mobile	mobile	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 telephone	amod
9	telephone	telephone	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 communicates	nsubj
10	communicates	communicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 means	parataxis
11	with	with	ADP	_	14 mast	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 mast	det
13	nearest	near	ADJ	Degree=Sup	14 mast	amod
14	mast	mast	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 communicates	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the principal		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	communicate	present	a mobile telephone	with the nearest mast	vn correspond-36.1 «NP V PP.co-agent PP.theme whether S»: agent=Agent with mast=Co-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 · ← Mova's choice

Light pulses transmitted through the window

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 pulses	compound
2	pulses	pulse	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 pulses	acl
4	through	through	ADP	_	6 window	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 window	det
6	window	window	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 transmitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transmit	participle		Light pulses not said here		the window			vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Sound waves transmitted directly through the air to the top of the mast

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 waves	compound
2	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 waves	acl
4	directly	directly	ADV	_	3 transmitted	advmod
5	through	through	ADP	_	7 air	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 air	det
7	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 transmitted	obl
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 top	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 top	det
10	top	top	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 transmitted	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 mast	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 mast	det
13	mast	mast	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 top	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transmit	participle		Sound waves not said here		the air		to the top of the mast; directly property	vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to top=Destination

Option 3

Electric current conducted through the ground

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Electric	electric	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 current	amod
2	current	current	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	conducted	conduct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 current	acl
4	through	through	ADP	_	6 ground	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 ground	det
6	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conducted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conduct	participle		Electric current not said here		the ground			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent through ground=Destination

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Radio waves carrying the voice converted into numerical data

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Radio	radio	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 waves	compound
2	waves	wave	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 converted	nsubj
3	carrying	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 waves	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 voice	det
5	voice	voice	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 carrying	obj
6	converted	convert	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	into	into	ADP	_	9 data	case
8	numerical	numerical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 data	amod
9	data	data	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 converted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry	gerund	Radio waves not said here	the voice					vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent voice=Theme
2	convert	past	Radio waves					into numerical data result	vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.result»: agent=Patient into data=Result

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/35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels/e1/