Exam question 4 · Pendulums, Greenwich and railway time, atomic clocks and p…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the means whereby a mobile telephone ascertains the time?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: the, mobile telephone · What happens: follow, characteris, mean, ascertain

This is exam question 4 of lesson 123 «Pendulums, Greenwich and railway time, atomic clocks and phones» 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	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 means	nsubj
10	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	ccomp
11	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	15 ascertains	advmod
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 telephone	det
13	mobile	mobile	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 telephone	amod
14	telephone	telephone	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 ascertains	nsubj
15	ascertains	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 means	advcl
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 time	det
17	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 ascertains	obj
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present			of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
4	ascertain	present	a mobile telephone	time	whereby property	vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=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

It derives the time from the position of the Sun

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	2 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 time	det
4	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 position	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 position	det
7	position	position	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 Sun	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Sun	det
10	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 position	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	derive	present	It			the position of the Sun	time		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from position=Material

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It receives signals from the network or from satellites carrying atomic clocks

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	2 receives	nsubj
2	receives	receive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	signals	signal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 receives	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 network	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 network	det
6	network	network	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 receives	obl
7	or	or	CCONJ	_	9 satellites	cc
8	from	from	ADP	_	9 satellites	case
9	satellites	satellite	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 network	conj
10	carrying	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 satellites	acl
11	atomic	atomic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 clocks	amod
12	clocks	clock	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 carrying	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive	present	It	signals		the network or satellites			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent signal=Theme from network=Source
2	carry	gerund	satellites not said here	atomic clocks					vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clock=Theme

Option 3

It relies exclusively on manual setting by its owner

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	2 relies	nsubj
2	relies	rely	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 relies	advmod
4	on	on	ADP	_	6 setting	case
5	manual	manual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 setting	amod
6	setting	setting	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 relies	obl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 owner	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 owner	nmod:poss
9	owner	owner	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 relies	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rely	present	It					by setting's owner; on manual setting; exclusively property	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent on setting=Theme

Option 4

It measures the swings of an internal pendulum

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	2 measures	nsubj
2	measures	measure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 swings	det
4	swings	swing	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 measures	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 pendulum	case
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 pendulum	det
7	internal	internal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 pendulum	amod
8	pendulum	pendulum	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 swings	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	measure	present	It	the swings of a internal pendulum					vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme swing=Value
2	swing		a internal pendulum						nom swing «state intransitive»: of=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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