---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Thunder, sirens and how fast sound tra… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the alteration of the pitch of a passing siren? Exam question 3 of lesson 18 «Thunder, sirens and how fast sound travels» of the physics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of eac
---

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# Exam question 3 · Thunder, sirens and how fast sound travels

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the alteration of the pitch of a passing siren?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 18 «Thunder, sirens and how fast sound travels» of the physics 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/physics/18-thunder-sirens-and-how-fast-sound-travels/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:18-thunder-sirens-and-how-fast-sound-travels:e3:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the alteration of the pitch of a passing siren?
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	alteration	alteration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	amod	_	_
17	siren	siren	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	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 alteration of the pitch of a passing siren |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **pass** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **alter** |  |  | the pitch of a passing siren |  |  |  |  | nom alteration «event 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pitch rises upon approach and falls upon recession

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:18-thunder-sirens-and-how-fast-sound-travels:e3:o1:1
# text = The pitch rises upon approach and falls upon recession
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	rises	rise	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	approach	approach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	falls	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	recession	recession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rise** | present | the pitch |  |  | approach |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon approach=Location |
| 2 | **fall** | present | the pitch *not said here* |  |  | recession |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon recession=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pitch is determined solely by the volume

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:18-thunder-sirens-and-how-fast-sound-travels:e3:o2:1
# text = The pitch is determined solely by the volume
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	determined	determine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	volume	volume	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **determine** | present · passive | the volume | the pitch |  |  |  | solely *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pitch remains constant throughout

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:18-thunder-sirens-and-how-fast-sound-travels:e3:o3:1
# text = The pitch remains constant throughout
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	remains	remain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	throughout	throughout	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remain** | present | the pitch |  |  |  |  | constant *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pitch falls upon approach and rises upon recession

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:18-thunder-sirens-and-how-fast-sound-travels:e3:o4:1
# text = The pitch falls upon approach and rises upon recession
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	falls	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	approach	approach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	rises	rise	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	recession	recession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | present | the pitch |  |  | approach |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon approach=Location |
| 2 | **rise** | present | the pitch *not said here* |  |  | recession |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon recession=Location |

<!-- 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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- ↑ back to [Thunder, sirens and how fast sound travels](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/18-thunder-sirens-and-how-fast-sound-travels/)