Exam question 1 · Day and night, shadows and sundials

Identify the principal reason for the alternation of day and night.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, day · What happens: identify, alternate · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 118 «Day and night, shadows and sundials» 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	_	7 alternation	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 alternation	det
7	alternation	alternation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 day	case
9	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 alternation	nmod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 night	cc
11	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 alternation	conj
12	.	.	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				for the alternation of day and night	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	alternate		day						nom alternation «act intransitive»: of=agent

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 periodic obscuring of the Sun by the Moon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 periodic	det
2	periodic	periodic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
3	obscuring	obscure	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 periodic	advcl
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 Sun	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Sun	det
6	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 obscuring	obl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 Moon	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Moon	det
9	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 obscuring	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obscure	gerund						of the Sun; by the Moon	vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The rotation of the Earth upon its axis approximately once in twenty-four hours

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rotation	det
2	rotation	rotation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 Earth	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Earth	det
5	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 rotation	nmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 axis	case
7	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 axis	nmod:poss
8	axis	axis	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 Earth	nmod
9	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	10 once	advmod
10	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	2 rotation	advmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	15 hours	case
12	twenty	twenty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	15 hours	nummod
13	-	-	PUNCT	_	12 twenty	punct
14	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 twenty	conj
15	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 rotation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rotate		the Earth upon Earth's axis				in twenty hours		nom rotation «act intransitive»: of=agent in=obl

Option 3

The revolution of the Sun about a stationary Earth once daily

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 revolution	det
2	revolution	revolution	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 Sun	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Sun	det
5	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 revolution	nmod
6	about	about	ADP	_	8 stationary	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 stationary	det
8	stationary	stationary	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 revolution	nmod
9	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 stationary	appos
10	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	2 revolution	advmod
11	daily	daily	ADV	_	10 once	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	revolt		the Sun					about a stationary	nom revolution «event intransitive»: of=agent about=obl

Option 4

The diminution of the Sun's light at fixed hours

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 diminution	det
2	diminution	diminution	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 light	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Sun	det
5	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 light	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 Sun	case
7	light	light	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 diminution	nmod
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 hours	case
9	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 hours	amod
10	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 diminution	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	roles by
1	fix	participle			vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	diminish		the Sun's light	at fixed hours	nom diminution «process intransitive»: of=agent at=obl
3	light		the Sun		nom light «phenomenon transitive»: poss=agent

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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