Exam question 4 · The internet and undersea cables

Ascertain the reason for which certain data centres are constructed in cold regions.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, construct · To what, where: reason, certain data centres, cold regions

This is exam question 4 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	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	10 constructed	obl
6	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 centres	amod
7	data	data	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 centres	compound
8	centres	centre	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 constructed	nsubj:pass
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 constructed	aux:pass
10	constructed	construct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 regions	case
12	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 regions	amod
13	regions	region	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 constructed	obl
14	.	.	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	construct	present · passive		certain data centres		cold regions		for the reason	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Result for which=Beneficiary

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

Snow improves the reliability of the electricity supplied to such establishments

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 improves	nsubj
2	improves	improve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reliability	det
4	reliability	reliability	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 improves	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 electricity	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 electricity	det
7	electricity	electricity	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reliability	nmod
8	supplied	supply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 electricity	acl
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 establishments	case
10	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 establishments	amod
11	establishments	establishment	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 supplied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	improve	present	Snow	the reliability of the electricity					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent reliability=Patient
2	supply	participle		the electricity not said here	such establishments				vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to establishment=Recipient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The expense of cooling the servers 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 expense	det
2	expense	expense	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 reduced	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	SCONJ	_	4 cooling	mark
4	cooling	cool	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 expense	acl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 servers	det
6	servers	server	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cooling	obj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 reduced	aux:pass
8	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	9 reduced	advmod
9	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	cool	gerund	the expense not said here	the servers					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent server=Patient
2	reduce	present · passive		the expense				thereby property	vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 3

Computers function solely below freezing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Computers	computer	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 function	nsubj
2	function	function	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 function	advmod
4	below	below	ADP	_	5 freezing	case
5	freezing	freezing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 function	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	function	present	Computers			freezing		solely property	vn function-105.2.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Cold air increases the velocity of data

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 air	amod
2	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 increases	nsubj
3	increases	increase	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 velocity	det
5	velocity	velocity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 increases	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 data	case
7	data	data	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 velocity	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	present	Cold air	the velocity of data					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer velocity=Patient

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/e4/