Exam question 3 · Deserts, rainforests and grasslands

Ascertain the principal reason for which hot deserts become very cold at night.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, hot deserts · What happens: ascertain, become · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 3 of lesson 66 «Deserts, rainforests and grasslands» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 become	obl
7	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 deserts	amod
8	deserts	desert	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 become	nsubj
9	become	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
10	very	very	ADV	_	11 cold	advmod
11	cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 become	xcomp
12	at	at	ADP	_	13 night	case
13	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 cold	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	become	present	hot deserts					for the principal reason; cold property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice

Sand absorbs heat from the air at night

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sand	sand	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	nsubj
2	absorbs	absorb	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	heat	heat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 air	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 air	det
6	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obl
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 night	case
8	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absorbs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absorb	present	Sand	heat		the air	night		vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Goal heat=Theme from air=Source

Option 2

The wind brings snow from the mountains

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 brings	nsubj
3	brings	bring	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	snow	snow	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 brings	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 mountains	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mountains	det
7	mountains	mountain	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 brings	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bring	present	the wind	snow		the mountains			vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent snow=Theme from mountain=Initial_Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Dry clear air permits heat to escape

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dry	dry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 permits	amod
2	clear	clear	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 permits	amod
3	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 permits	compound
4	permits	permit	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 heat	nsubj
5	heat	heat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 escape	mark
7	escape	escape	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 heat	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	heat	present	Dry clear air permits						tree rules
2	escape	to-infinitive	Dry clear air permits not said here						vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

The Moon draws away the day's warmth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Moon	det
2	Moon	Moon	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 draws	nsubj
3	draws	draw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	away	away	ADV	_	3 draws	advmod
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 day	det
6	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 warmth	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 day	case
8	warmth	warmth	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 draws	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw away	present	the Moon	the day's warmth				away property	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent warmth=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.

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