Exam question 3 · The Silk Road

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the diminished importance of the overland routes after about 1500.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, diminish · To what, where: response, diminished importance

This is exam question 3 of lesson 28 «The Silk Road» of the geography 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 importance	det
11	diminished	diminish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 importance	amod
12	importance	importance	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 routes	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 routes	det
15	overland	overland	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 routes	amod
16	routes	route	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 importance	nmod
17	after	after	ADP	_	19 1500	case
18	about	about	ADV	_	19 1500	advmod
19	1500	1500	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	16 routes	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the diminished importance of the overland routes after 1500		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus importance=Experiencer
4	diminish	participle				vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

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

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

The deserts of Central Asia became wholly impassable owing to a change of climate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 deserts	det
2	deserts	desert	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 became	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 Asia	case
4	Central	Central	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 Asia	flat
5	Asia	Asia	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 deserts	nmod
6	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	8 impassable	advmod
8	impassable	impassable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 became	xcomp
9	owing	owe	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 impassable	advcl
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 change	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 change	det
12	change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 owing	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 climate	case
14	climate	climate	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 change	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	become	past	the deserts of Central Asia	impassable property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	owe	gerund	the deserts of Central Asia not said here	to a change of climate goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to change=Goal
3	change		climate		nom change «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The camel became extinct throughout Central Asia

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 camel	det
2	camel	camel	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 became	nsubj
3	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	extinct	extinct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 became	xcomp
5	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	7 Asia	case
6	Central	Central	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Asia	flat
7	Asia	Asia	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 became	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	past	the camel				throughout Central Asia	extinct property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A greater share of trade between Europe and Asia was conveyed by sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 share	det
2	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 share	amod
3	share	share	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 conveyed	nsubj:pass
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 trade	case
5	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 share	nmod
6	between	between	ADP	_	7 Europe	case
7	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 trade	nmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 Asia	cc
9	Asia	Asia	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Europe	conj
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 conveyed	aux:pass
11	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
12	by	by	ADP	_	13 sea	case
13	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 conveyed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convey	past · passive	sea	a greater share of trade between Europe and Asia					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent subject=Topic
2	share			trade between Europe and Asia					nom share «possession transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

China ceased altogether the production of goods for export

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 ceased	nsubj
2	ceased	cease	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	altogether	altogether	ADP	_	5 production	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 production	det
5	production	production	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ceased	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 goods	case
7	goods	goods	NOUN	Number=Ptan	5 production	nmod
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 export	case
9	export	export	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ceased	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cease	past	China					altogether the production of goods; for export	vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	produce			goods					nom production «act transitive»: of=patient

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/e3/