Exam question 2 · The Moon and its phases

Identify the principal cause of the phases of the Moon.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, cause · To what, where: principal cause, phases

This is exam question 2 of lesson 3 «The Moon and its phases» 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 cause	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cause	amod
4	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 phases	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 phases	det
7	phases	phase	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cause	nmod
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 phases	nmod
11	.	.	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 cause of the phases of the Moon					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme
2	cause			the phases of the Moon					nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient

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

The interposition of clouds between Earth and Moon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 interposition	det
2	interposition	interposition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 clouds	case
4	clouds	cloud	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 interposition	nmod
5	between	between	ADP	_	6 Earth	case
6	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 clouds	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 Moon	cc
8	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Earth	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	interpose			clouds between Earth and Moon					nom interposition «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The shadow of the Earth falling upon the Moon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 shadow	det
2	shadow	shadow	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 shadow	nmod
6	falling	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 shadow	acl
7	upon	upon	ADP	_	9 Moon	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Moon	det
9	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 falling	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fall	gerund	the shadow of the Earth not said here			the Moon			vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon moon=Location
2	shadow			the Earth					nom shadow «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The varying portion of its sunlit half visible from the Earth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 portion	det
2	varying	vary	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 portion	amod
3	portion	portion	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 visible	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 half	case
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 half	nmod:poss
6	sunlit	sunlit	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 half	amod
7	half	half	NOUN	Number=Sing NumForm=Word NumType=Frac	3 portion	nmod
8	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
9	from	from	ADP	_	11 Earth	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Earth	det
11	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 visible	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	vary	gerund							vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 4

The alteration of the Moon's actual shape

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 alteration	det
2	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	8 shape	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Moon	det
5	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 shape	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 Moon	case
7	actual	actual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 shape	amod
8	shape	shape	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 alteration	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	alter			the Moon's actual shape					nom alteration «event transitive»: of=patient

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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