---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Ice on ponds and cold water in winter · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the thickness of ice upon a pond? Exam question 3 of lesson 74 «Ice on ponds and cold water in winter» of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Exam question 3 · Ice on ponds and cold water in winter

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the thickness of ice upon a pond?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** thickness

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 74 «Ice on ponds and cold water in winter» of the medicine 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/medicine/74-ice-on-ponds-and-cold-water-in-winter/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:74-ice-on-ponds-and-cold-water-in-winter:e3:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the thickness of ice upon a pond?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	thickness	thickness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the thickness of ice upon a pond |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may vary considerably and cannot be ascertained by sight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:74-ice-on-ponds-and-cold-water-in-winter:e3:o1:1
# text = It may vary considerably and cannot be ascertained by sight
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	vary	vary	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	considerably	considerably	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	ascertained	ascertain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vary** | may | It |  |  |  |  | considerably *property* | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **ascertain** | can · passive | sight |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is greatest at the centre of the pond

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:74-ice-on-ponds-and-cold-water-in-winter:e3:o2:1
# text = It is greatest at the centre of the pond
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	centre	centre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  | the centre of the pond |  | great *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is reliably indicated by the thickness at the bank

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:74-ice-on-ponds-and-cold-water-in-winter:e3:o3:1
# text = It is reliably indicated by the thickness at the bank
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	reliably	reliably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	indicated	indicate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	thickness	thickness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **indicate** | present · passive | the thickness | It |  | the bank |  | reliably *property* | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is uniform throughout the pond

```conllu
# sent_id = question:medicine:74-ice-on-ponds-and-cold-water-in-winter:e3:o4:1
# text = It is uniform throughout the pond
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	uniform	uniform	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	throughout	throughout	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  | throughout the pond | uniform *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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: [Ice on ponds and cold water in winter, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/medicine/74-ice-on-ponds-and-cold-water-in-winter/e2/)
- next →: [Ice on ponds and cold water in winter, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/medicine/74-ice-on-ponds-and-cold-water-in-winter/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Ice on ponds and cold water in winter](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/medicine/74-ice-on-ponds-and-cold-water-in-winter/)