---
title: Identify the principal process by which potholes are formed in road… — Roads and road signs · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal process by which potholes are formed in road surfaces during the winter months. Exam question 1 of lesson 31 «Roads and road signs» of the technology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was 
---

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# Exam question 1 · Roads and road signs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal process by which potholes are formed in road surfaces during the winter months.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, principal process · **What happens:** identify, form · **To what, where:** principal process, potholes, road surfaces

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 31 «Roads and road signs» of the technology 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/technology/31-roads-and-road-signs/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal process by which potholes are formed in road surfaces during the winter months.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	process	process	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
7	potholes	pothole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	formed	form	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	surfaces	surface	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
13	during	during	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal process |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent process=Theme |
| 2 | **form** | present · passive | the principal process | potholes |  | road surfaces | month |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
The sinking of heavy winter tyres into the surface

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:e1:o1:1
# text = The sinking of heavy winter tyres into the surface
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sinking	sinking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	tyres	tyre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** |  | heavy winter tyres into the surface |  |  |  |  |  | nom sinking «event intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The contraction of asphalt by cold air until the surface disappears

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:e1:o2:1
# text = The contraction of asphalt by cold air until the surface disappears
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	contraction	contraction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	asphalt	asphalt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	until	until	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
11	disappears	disappear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **disappear** | present | the contraction of asphalt by cold air until the surface |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **contract** |  |  | asphalt by cold air |  |  | until the surface |  | nom contraction «act transitive»: of=patient until=obl |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ingress of water into cracks, its freezing and expansion, and the subsequent removal of fragments by traffic

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:e1:o3:1
# text = The ingress of water into cracks, its freezing and expansion, and the subsequent removal of fragments by traffic
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ingress	ingress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	cracks	crack	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	freezing	freezing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	expansion	expansion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	subsequent	subsequent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	removal	removal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	fragments	fragment	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	traffic	traffic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** |  | water |  |  |  |  |  | nom freezing «process intransitive»: poss=agent |
| 2 | **remove** |  |  | fragments |  |  |  |  | nom removal «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The deliberate excavation of the surface by snowploughs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:e1:o4:1
# text = The deliberate excavation of the surface by snowploughs
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	excavation	excavation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	snowploughs	snowplough	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **excavate** |  | the surface |  |  |  |  |  | nom excavation «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- 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: [Roads and road signs, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/31-roads-and-road-signs/t11/)
- next →: [Roads and road signs, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/31-roads-and-road-signs/e2/)
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