Exam question 3 · Transport: from horses to planes

Ascertain the principal reason for which wheels upon iron rails move more easily than upon a rough road.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, wheels · What happens: ascertain, move · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 3 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	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	11 move	obl
7	wheels	wheel	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 move	nsubj
8	upon	upon	ADP	_	10 rails	case
9	iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 rails	compound
10	rails	rail	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 wheels	nmod
11	move	move	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
12	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	13 easily	advmod
13	easily	easily	ADV	_	11 move	advmod
14	than	than	ADP	_	18 road	case
15	upon	upon	ADP	_	18 road	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 road	det
17	rough	rough	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 road	amod
18	road	road	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 move	obl
19	.	.	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	move	present	wheels upon iron rails					for the principal reason; than a rough road; easily property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

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

Smooth iron rails give much less friction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Smooth	smooth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 rails	amod
2	iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 rails	compound
3	rails	rail	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 give	nsubj
4	give	give	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	much	much	ADV	_	6 less	advmod
6	less	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 friction	amod
7	friction	friction	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 give	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present	Smooth iron rails	less friction					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friction=Theme

Option 2

Rough roads have no friction whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Rough	rough	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 roads	amod
2	roads	road	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 have	nsubj
3	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 friction	det
5	friction	friction	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 have	obj
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	3 have	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	Rough roads	no friction				whatsoever property	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friction=Patient

Option 3

Iron rails pull the wheels by magnetism

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 rails	compound
2	rails	rail	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pull	nsubj
3	pull	pull	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 wheels	det
5	wheels	wheel	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pull	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 magnetism	case
7	magnetism	magnetism	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 pull	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pull	present	Iron rails	the wheels				by magnetism	vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wheel=Theme

Option 4

Iron rails reduce the weight of the train

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 rails	compound
2	rails	rail	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 reduce	nsubj
3	reduce	reduce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 weight	det
5	weight	weight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reduce	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 train	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 train	det
8	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 weight	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reduce	present	Iron rails	the weight of the train					vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer weight=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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