Exam question 1 · Satellites and GPS

Identify the principal reason for which an artificial satellite does not descend to the surface of the Earth.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, artificial satellite · What happens: identify, not descend · To what, where: principal reason, surface

This is exam question 1 of lesson 38 «Satellites and GPS» 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	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 descend	obl
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 satellite	det
8	artificial	artificial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 satellite	amod
9	satellite	satellite	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 descend	nsubj
10	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 descend	aux
11	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 descend	advmod
12	descend	descend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	parataxis
13	to	to	ADP	_	15 surface	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 surface	det
15	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 descend	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 Earth	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 Earth	det
18	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 surface	nmod
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	not descend	present · do-support	a artificial satellite			the surface of the Earth		for the principal reason	vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to surface=Location

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

It is supported by the atmosphere beneath it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 supported	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 supported	aux:pass
3	supported	support	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 atmosphere	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 atmosphere	det
6	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 supported	obl
7	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	8 it	case
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 atmosphere	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	support	present · passive	the atmosphere beneath atmosphere	It					vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus

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

Its horizontal velocity is such that it falls continuously around the Earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 velocity	nmod:poss
2	horizontal	horizontal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 velocity	compound
3	velocity	velocity	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 such	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 such	cop
5	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	8 falls	mark
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 falls	mark
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 falls	nsubj
8	falls	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	continuously	continuously	ADV	_	8 falls	advmod
10	around	around	ADP	_	12 Earth	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Earth	det
12	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 falls	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Its horizontal velocity					such property	tree rules
2	fall	present	velocity			the Earth		continuously property	vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme around earth=Location

Option 3

It is suspended by cables from the surface

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 suspended	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 suspended	aux:pass
3	suspended	suspend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 cables	case
5	cables	cable	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 suspended	obl
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 surface	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 surface	det
8	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 suspended	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suspend	present · passive	cables	It		the surface			vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from surface=Source

Option 4

Gravity is entirely absent beyond the atmosphere

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gravity	gravity	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 absent	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 absent	cop
3	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	4 absent	advmod
4	absent	absent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	7 atmosphere	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 atmosphere	det
7	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 absent	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Gravity					beyond the atmosphere; absent, entirely property	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.

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