Exam question 4 · Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs, water-mills, barge…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the practice of sculling?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: practice · What happens: follow, characteris, scull · To what, where: practice

This is exam question 4 of lesson 41 «Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs, water-mills, barges and how not to tip a rowing boat» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 practice	det
10	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	SCONJ	_	12 sculling	mark
12	sculling	scull	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 practice	acl
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the practice	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	scull	gerund	the practice not said here			tree rules

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

Two persons propel the boat with a single oar between them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 persons	nummod
2	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 propel	nsubj
3	propel	propel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 boat	det
5	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 propel	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	9 oar	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 oar	det
8	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 oar	amod
9	oar	oar	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 propel	obl
10	between	between	ADP	_	11 them	case
11	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 oar	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	propel	present	Two persons	the boat				with a single oar between them	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A single person propels the boat with a pair of oars

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 person	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 person	amod
3	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 propels	nsubj
4	propels	propel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 boat	det
6	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 propels	obj
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 pair	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 pair	det
9	pair	pair	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 propels	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 oars	case
11	oars	oar	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 pair	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	propel	present	a single person	the boat				with a pair of oars	tree rules

Option 3

The boat is drawn by a horse upon the bank

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 boat	det
2	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 drawn	aux:pass
4	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 horse	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 horse	det
7	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 bank	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 bank	det
10	bank	bank	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	present · passive	a horse	the boat				upon the bank	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4

The boat is propelled by a pole upon the river bed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 boat	det
2	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 propelled	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 propelled	aux:pass
4	propelled	propel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 pole	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 pole	det
7	pole	pole	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 propelled	obl
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 bed	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 bed	det
10	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 bed	compound
11	bed	bed	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 propelled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	propel	present · passive	a pole	the boat				upon the river bed	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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