---
title: Ascertain the meaning of a school zone sign. — Traffic lights, crossings and road signs · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the meaning of a school zone sign. Exam question 4 of lesson 267 «Traffic lights, crossings and road signs» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Exam question 4 · Traffic lights, crossings and road signs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the meaning of a school zone sign.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, mean · **To what, where:** meaning, zone sign

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 267 «Traffic lights, crossings and road signs» of the everyday 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/everyday/267-traffic-lights-and-signs/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the meaning of a school zone sign.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	zone	zone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	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 meaning of a zone sign |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** |  |  | a zone sign |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Children may play in the road there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:e4:o1:1
# text = Children may play in the road there
1	Children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | may | Children |  |  | the road; there |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Buses may not stop there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:e4:o2:1
# text = Buses may not stop there
1	Buses	bus	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **stop** | may | Buses |  |  | there |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cars must drive more slowly near the school at certain times

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:e4:o3:1
# text = Cars must drive more slowly near the school at certain times
1	Cars	car	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	drive	drive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
5	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	near	near	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drive** | must | Cars |  |  | the school | time | slowly *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Parking is free outside the school

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:e4:o4:1
# text = Parking is free outside the school
1	Parking	parking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	outside	outside	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Parking |  |  |  |  | outside the school; free *property* | tree rules |

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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.

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- ← previous: [Traffic lights, crossings and road signs, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/267-traffic-lights-and-signs/e3/)
- next →: [In the car: seat belts, car seats and…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/268-in-the-car-and-seat-belts/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Traffic lights, crossings and road signs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/267-traffic-lights-and-signs/)