Exam question 3 · Thinking like an astronomer

Identify the principal reason for which the lunar sky appears black even during the lunar day.

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

This is exam question 3 of lesson 10 «Thinking like an astronomer» of the world 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	10 appears	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 sky	det
8	lunar	lunar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 sky	amod
9	sky	sky	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 appears	nsubj
10	appears	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
11	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 appears	xcomp
12	even	even	ADV	_	16 day	advmod
13	during	during	ADP	_	16 day	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 day	det
15	lunar	lunar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 day	amod
16	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 appears	obl:unmarked
17	.	.	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	appear	present	the lunar sky				day	for the principal reason; black property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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 lunar dust absorbs the whole of the light that falls upon it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 dust	det
2	lunar	lunar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 dust	amod
3	dust	dust	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 absorbs	nsubj
4	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 light	det
6	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 light	amod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 light	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 light	det
9	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 absorbs	obj
10	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 falls	nsubj
11	falls	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 light	acl:relcl
12	upon	upon	ADP	_	13 it	case
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 falls	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	the lunar dust	the whole light					vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal light=Theme
2	fall	present	the whole light			dust			vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon it=Location

Option 2

The Earth obstructs the sunlight before it reaches the Moon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Earth	det
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 obstructs	nsubj
3	obstructs	obstruct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 sunlight	det
5	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 obstructs	obj
6	before	before	SCONJ	_	8 reaches	mark
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 reaches	nsubj
8	reaches	reach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 obstructs	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Moon	det
10	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 reaches	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obstruct	present	the Earth	the sunlight					vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer sunlight=Eventuality
2	reach	present	Earth	the Moon					vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent moon=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The Moon possesses no atmosphere to scatter sunlight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Moon	det
2	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	nsubj
3	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 atmosphere	det
5	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possesses	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 scatter	mark
7	scatter	scatter	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 possesses	advcl
8	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 scatter	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	the Moon	no atmosphere					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot atmosphere=Theme
2	scatter	to-infinitive	the Moon not said here	sunlight					vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent sunlight=Theme

Option 4

The Sun does not illuminate the surface of the Moon at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Sun	det
2	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 illuminate	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 illuminate	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 illuminate	advmod
5	illuminate	illuminate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 surface	det
7	surface	surface	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 illuminate	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 Moon	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Moon	det
10	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 surface	nmod
11	at	at	ADP	_	12 all	case
12	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 illuminate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not illuminate	present · do-support	the Sun	the surface of the Moon		all			vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent surface=Destination

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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