Exam question 1 · The spice trade and the Indian Ocean

Identify the principal reason for which spices commanded exceptionally high prices in medieval Europe.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, spices · What happens: identify, command · To what, where: principal reason, high prices, medieval Europe · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 29 «The spice trade and the Indian Ocean» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 commanded	obl
7	spices	spice	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 commanded	nsubj
8	commanded	command	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
9	exceptionally	exceptionally	ADV	_	10 high	advmod
10	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 prices	amod
11	prices	price	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 commanded	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 Europe	case
13	medieval	medieval	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 Europe	amod
14	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 commanded	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	command	past	spices	high prices		medieval Europe		for the principal reason	vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.predicate»: agent=Agent price=Theme in europe=Eventuality

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

They were manufactured exclusively in the workshops of Venice

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 manufactured	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 manufactured	aux:pass
3	manufactured	manufacture	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 manufactured	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 workshops	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 workshops	det
7	workshops	workshop	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 manufactured	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 Venice	case
9	Venice	Venice	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 workshops	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	manufacture	past · passive		They		the workshops of Venice		exclusively property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They were cultivated solely in tropical Asia and passed through numerous intermediaries

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 cultivated	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 cultivated	aux:pass
3	cultivated	cultivate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 cultivated	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 Asia	case
6	tropical	tropical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 Asia	amod
7	Asia	Asia	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 cultivated	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 passed	cc
9	passed	pass	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 cultivated	conj
10	through	through	ADP	_	12 intermediaries	case
11	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 intermediaries	amod
12	intermediaries	intermediary	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 passed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cultivate	past · passive		They		tropical Asia		solely property	vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Product
2	pass	participle				numerous intermediaries			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through intermediary=Location

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

They were cultivated throughout Europe in negligible quantities by monastic houses alone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 cultivated	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 cultivated	aux:pass
3	cultivated	cultivate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	5 Europe	case
5	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 cultivated	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 quantities	case
7	negligible	negligible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 quantities	amod
8	quantities	quantity	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cultivated	obl
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 houses	case
10	monastic	monastic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 houses	amod
11	houses	house	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cultivated	obl
12	alone	alone	ADV	_	3 cultivated	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cultivate	past · passive	monastic houses	They		negligible quantities	throughout Europe	alone property	vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Product

Option 4

Their consumption was restricted by law to the clergy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 consumption	nmod:poss
2	consumption	consumption	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 restricted	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 restricted	aux:pass
4	restricted	restrict	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 law	case
6	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 restricted	obl
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 clergy	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 clergy	det
9	clergy	clergy	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 restricted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	restrict	past · passive	law	Their consumption	the clergy				vn limit-76 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer subject=Patient to clergy=Goal
2	consume		Their = they						nom consumption «act transitive»: poss=agent

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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