Exam question 4 · The seasons and the tilt of the axis

Determine the reason for which oblique sunlight warms the ground to a lesser degree than sunlight arriving from overhead.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, oblique sunlight, sunlight · What happens: determine, warm, arrive · To what, where: reason, ground, overhead

This is exam question 4 of lesson 2 «The seasons and the tilt of the axis» 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	Determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determine	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 warms	obl
6	oblique	oblique	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 sunlight	amod
7	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 warms	nsubj
8	warms	warm	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 ground	det
10	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 warms	obj
11	to	to	ADP	_	14 degree	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 degree	det
13	lesser	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	14 degree	amod
14	degree	degree	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 warms	obl
15	than	than	ADP	_	16 sunlight	case
16	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 warms	obl
17	arriving	arrive	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	16 sunlight	acl
18	from	from	ADP	_	19 overhead	case
19	overhead	overhead	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 arriving	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	the reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	warm	present	oblique sunlight	the ground		for the reason; to a lesser degree; than sunlight	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent ground=Patient
3	arrive	gerund	sunlight not said here		overhead		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from overhead=Initial_Location

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

It is distributed over a greater area of ground

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	3 distributed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 distributed	aux:pass
3	distributed	distribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	over	over	ADP	_	7 area	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 area	det
6	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 area	amod
7	area	area	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 distributed	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 ground	case
9	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 area	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	distribute	present · passive		It		a greater area of ground			vn contribute-13.2-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme

Option 2

It travels a shorter distance from 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 travels	nsubj
2	travels	travel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 distance	det
4	shorter	short	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 distance	amod
5	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 travels	obj
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 Sun	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Sun	det
8	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 distance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	travel	present	It	a shorter distance		the Sun			vn run-51.3.2-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location distance=Theme

Option 3

It contains a greater proportion of cold rays

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 contains	nsubj
2	contains	contain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 proportion	det
4	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 proportion	amod
5	proportion	proportion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contains	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 rays	case
7	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 rays	amod
8	rays	ray	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 proportion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	present	It	a greater proportion of cold rays					vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot proportion=Theme

Option 4

It is reflected entirely by the atmosphere

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	3 reflected	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reflected	aux:pass
3	reflected	reflect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	3 reflected	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 atmosphere	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 atmosphere	det
7	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reflected	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reflect	present · passive	the atmosphere	It				entirely property	tree rules

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/2-seasons-and-the-tilt/e4/