Exam question 2 · Check the claim, not the person

Ascertain the principal cause of the tides of the oceans.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, oceans · What happens: ascertain, cause, tide · To what, where: principal cause, tides

This is exam question 2 of lesson 188 «Check the claim, not the person» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 cause	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cause	amod
4	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 tides	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 tides	det
7	tides	tide	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cause	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 oceans	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 oceans	det
10	oceans	ocean	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 tides	nmod
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal cause of the tides of the oceans	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic
2	cause			the tides of the oceans	nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient
3	tide		the oceans		nom tide «event 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 right answer

The gravitational attraction of the Moon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 attraction	det
2	gravitational	gravitational	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 attraction	amod
3	attraction	attraction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 Moon	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Moon	det
6	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 attraction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attract			the Moon					nom attraction «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The rainfall upon the oceans

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rainfall	det
2	rainfall	rainfall	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 oceans	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 oceans	det
5	oceans	ocean	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 rainfall	nmod

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

Option 3

The passage of large vessels

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 passage	det
2	passage	passage	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 vessels	case
4	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 vessels	amod
5	vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 passage	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pass		large vessels						nom passage «act intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

The prevailing winds over the oceans of the world

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 winds	det
2	prevailing	prevail	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 winds	amod
3	winds	wind	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	over	over	ADP	_	6 oceans	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 oceans	det
6	oceans	ocean	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 winds	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 world	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 world	det
9	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 oceans	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevail	gerund							vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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/world/188-check-the-claim-not-the-person/e2/