Exam question 1 · Transport: from horses to planes

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the operation of a steam engine?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, operate · To what, where: operation, steam engine

This is exam question 1 of lesson 99 «Transport: from horses to planes» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 operation	det
10	operation	operation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 engine	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 engine	det
13	steam	steam	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 engine	compound
14	engine	engine	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 operation	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the operation of a steam engine	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	operate		a steam engine		nom operation «state 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Fuel boils water, and the steam pushes the engine's parts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fuel	fuel	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 boils	nsubj
2	boils	boil	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 boils	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 pushes	punct
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 pushes	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 steam	det
7	steam	steam	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 pushes	nsubj
8	pushes	push	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 boils	parataxis
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 engine	det
10	engine	engine	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 parts	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 engine	case
12	parts	part	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 pushes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	boil	present	Fuel	water					vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent water=Patient
2	push	present	the steam	the engine's parts					vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=Theme

Option 2

Petrol explodes inside a cylinder

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Petrol	petrol	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 explodes	nsubj
2	explodes	explode	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	inside	inside	ADP	_	5 cylinder	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 cylinder	det
5	cylinder	cylinder	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 explodes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	explode	present	Petrol			a cylinder			vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme inside cylinder=Location

Option 3

The wind pushes sails attached to the engine

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 pushes	nsubj
3	pushes	push	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pushes	obj
5	attached	attach	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 sails	acl
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 engine	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 engine	det
8	engine	engine	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 pushes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	push	present	the wind	sails		the engine			vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent sail=Theme to engine=Trajectory
2	attach	participle		sails not said here					vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 4

Electricity from a battery turns a motor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Electricity	electricity	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 turns	nsubj
2	from	from	ADP	_	4 battery	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 battery	det
4	battery	battery	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Electricity	nmod
5	turns	turn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 motor	det
7	motor	motor	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 turns	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	turn	present	Electricity from a battery	a motor					vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent motor=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/99-transport-horses-to-planes/e1/