---
title: Ascertain the function of a glaze upon an article of pottery. — Glass and pottery · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the function of a glaze upon an article of pottery. Exam question 4 of lesson 30 «Glass and pottery» of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Exam question 4 · Glass and pottery

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the function of a glaze upon an article of pottery.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, article · **To what, where:** function, pottery

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 30 «Glass and pottery» of the chemistry 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chemistry/30-glass-and-pottery/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:30-glass-and-pottery:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the function of a glaze upon an article of pottery.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	function	function	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	glaze	glaze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	article	article	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	pottery	pottery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the function of a glaze upon a article of pottery |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent function=Topic |
| 2 | **article** |  |  | pottery |  |  |  |  | nom article «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It conducts heat away from the contents

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:30-glass-and-pottery:e4:o1:1
# text = It conducts heat away from the contents
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	conducts	conduct	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	contents	contents	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conduct** | present | It | heat |  |  |  | away *property* | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heat=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It reduces the mass of the article considerably

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:30-glass-and-pottery:e4:o2:1
# text = It reduces the mass of the article considerably
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	reduces	reduce	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	mass	mass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	article	article	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	considerably	considerably	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reduce** | present | It | the mass of the article |  |  |  | considerably *property* | vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer mass=Patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It forms a thin vitreous coating that renders the article waterproof

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:30-glass-and-pottery:e4:o3:1
# text = It forms a thin vitreous coating that renders the article waterproof
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	forms	form	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	vitreous	vitreous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	coating	coating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	renders	render	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	article	article	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	waterproof	waterproof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **form** | present | It | a thin vitreous coating |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location coating=Theme |
| 2 | **render** | present | a thin vitreous coating | the article waterproof |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent waterproof=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It renders the article unbreakable

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:30-glass-and-pottery:e4:o4:1
# text = It renders the article unbreakable
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	renders	render	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	article	article	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	unbreakable	unbreakable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **render** | present | It | the article |  |  |  | unbreakable *property* | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent article=Theme |

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**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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Glass and pottery, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/30-glass-and-pottery/e3/)
- next →: [Metals and what they're good for, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/31-metals-what-theyre-good-for/t1/)
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