Exam question 2 · Maps, plans and the compass

Identify the principal reason for which the needle of a compass points north.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, needle · What happens: identify, point · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 2 of lesson 41 «Maps, plans and the compass» 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	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 points	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 needle	det
8	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 points	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 compass	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 compass	det
11	compass	compass	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 needle	nmod
12	points	point	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
13	north	north	ADV	_	12 points	advmod
14	.	.	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					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	point	present	the needle of a compass					for the principal reason; north property	vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: 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

The needle is heavier at its northern end

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 needle	det
2	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 heavier	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 heavier	cop
4	heavier	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
5	at	at	ADP	_	8 end	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 end	nmod:poss
7	northern	northern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 end	amod
8	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 heavier	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the needle				at needle's northern end	heavy property	tree rules

Option 2

The wind turns the needle northward

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 wind	det
2	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 turns	nsubj
3	turns	turn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 needle	det
5	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 turns	obj
6	northward	northward	ADV	_	3 turns	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	turn	present	the wind	the needle				northward property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent needle=Theme

Option 3

The needle is drawn towards the Sun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 needle	det
2	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 drawn	aux:pass
4	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	towards	towards	ADP	_	7 Sun	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Sun	det
7	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	present · passive		the needle				towards the Sun	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme towards sun=Destination

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The needle is a magnet and the Earth acts as a giant magnet

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 needle	det
2	needle	needle	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 magnet	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 magnet	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 magnet	det
5	magnet	magnet	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 acts	cc
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Earth	det
8	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 acts	nsubj
9	acts	act	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 magnet	conj
10	as	as	ADP	_	13 magnet	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 magnet	det
12	giant	giant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 magnet	amod
13	magnet	magnet	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 acts	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the needle	a magnet					tree rules
2	act	present	the Earth					as a giant magnet	vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as magnet=Attribute

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/41-maps-and-compass/e2/