---
title: Whereas one competitor records 12.4 seconds and another 11.9 seconds… — Alarms, stopwatches and how long a sec… · tree and pragmatics
description: Whereas one competitor records 12.4 seconds and another 11.9 seconds, identify the faster competitor and the margin. Exam question 3 of lesson 105 «Alarms, stopwatches and how long a second is» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Alarms, stopwatches and how long a second is

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whereas one competitor records 12.4 seconds and another 11.9 seconds, identify the faster competitor and the margin.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** one competitor, you · **What happens:** record, identify · **To what, where:** faster competitor

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 105 «Alarms, stopwatches and how long a second is» of the world 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/world/105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:e3:1
# text = Whereas one competitor records 12.4 seconds and another 11.9 seconds, identify the faster competitor and the margin.
1	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	competitor	competitor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	records	record	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
5	12.4	12.4	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
9	11.9	11.9	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
12	identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	faster	fast	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	15	amod	_	_
15	competitor	competitor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	margin	margin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **record** | present | one competitor |  |  |  | second |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the faster competitor and the margin |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent competitor=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The latter, by five seconds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:e3:o1:1
# text = The latter, by five seconds
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	latter	latter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The latter, by half a second

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:e3:o2:1
# text = The latter, by half a second
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	latter	latter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	7	det:predet	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	second	second	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The former, by one and a half seconds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:e3:o3:1
# text = The former, by one and a half seconds
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	9	compound	_	_
9	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The former, by half a second

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:105-alarms-stopwatches-how-long-a-second-is:e3:o4:1
# text = The former, by half a second
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	7	det:predet	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	second	second	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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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