Exam question 2 · Toys and Lego

Identify the principal reason for which a balloon diminishes in size over several days.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, balloon · What happens: identify, diminish · To what, where: principal reason, size

This is exam question 2 of lesson 7 «Toys and Lego» 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	9 diminishes	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 balloon	det
8	balloon	balloon	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 diminishes	nsubj
9	diminishes	diminish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	parataxis
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 size	case
11	size	size	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 diminishes	obl
12	over	over	ADP	_	14 days	case
13	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 days	amod
14	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 diminishes	obl
15	.	.	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	diminish	present	a balloon			size	day	for the principal reason	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

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

The balloon is consumed by bacteria

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 balloon	det
2	balloon	balloon	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consumed	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 consumed	aux:pass
4	consumed	consume	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 bacteria	case
6	bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consumed	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume	present · passive	bacteria	the balloon					vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Asset

Option 2

The air within is converted into water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 air	det
2	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 converted	nsubj:pass
3	within	within	ADP	_	2 air	nmod
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 converted	aux:pass
5	converted	convert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	into	into	ADP	_	7 water	case
7	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 converted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convert	present · passive		the air				into water result	vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: subject=Patient into water=Result

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The gas within escapes gradually through the rubber

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 gas	det
2	gas	gas	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	within	within	ADP	_	4 escapes	case
4	escapes	escape	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 gas	nmod
5	gradually	gradually	ADV	_	8 rubber	advmod
6	through	through	ADP	_	8 rubber	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 rubber	det
8	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 escapes	nmod

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

Option 4

The rubber absorbs moisture from the air and thickens accordingly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rubber	det
2	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorbs	nsubj
3	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	moisture	moisture	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorbs	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 air	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 air	det
7	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 absorbs	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 thickens	cc
9	thickens	thicken	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 absorbs	conj
10	accordingly	accordingly	ADV	_	9 thickens	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	the rubber	moisture		the air			vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Goal moisture=Theme from air=Source
2	thicken	present	the rubber not said here					accordingly property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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/7-toys-and-lego/e2/