Exam question 2 · The internet and undersea cables

Identify the principal means by which data is conveyed between continents.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, principal · What happens: identify, mean, convey · To what, where: data · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 37 «The internet and undersea cables» 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	SCONJ	_	9 conveyed	mark
6	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	7 data	det
7	data	data	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 conveyed	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 conveyed	aux:pass
9	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 means	ccomp
10	between	between	ADP	_	11 continents	case
11	continents	continent	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 conveyed	obl
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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 clause=Topic
3	convey	present · passive		which data	between continents	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic

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

Vessels transporting storage devices

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	transporting	transport	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Vessels	acl
3	storage	storage	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 devices	compound
4	devices	device	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 transporting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transport	gerund	Vessels not said here	storage devices					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus device=Experiencer

Option 2

Radio waves reflected from the surface of the ocean between the continents

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	root	root
3	reflected	reflect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 waves	acl
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 surface	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 surface	det
6	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reflected	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 ocean	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 ocean	det
9	ocean	ocean	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 surface	nmod
10	between	between	ADP	_	12 continents	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 continents	det
12	continents	continent	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 ocean	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reflect	participle		Radio waves not said here		the surface of the ocean between the continents			vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Satellites exclusively

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Satellites	satellite	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	1 Satellites	advmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Cables laid upon the sea floor containing glass fibres

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cables	cable	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	laid	lay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Cables	acl
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 floor	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 floor	det
5	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 floor	compound
6	floor	floor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 laid	obl
7	containing	contain	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Cables	acl
8	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 fibres	compound
9	fibres	fibre	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 containing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lay	participle		Cables not said here		the sea floor			vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent upon floor=Destination
2	contain	gerund	Cables not said here	glass fibres					vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot fibre=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/37-the-internet-and-undersea-cables/e2/