Exam question 2 · The spice trade and the Indian Ocean

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Indian Ocean prior to the arrival of the Portuguese?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: Portuguese · What happens: follow, characteris, arrive · To what, where: Indian Ocean

This is exam question 2 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Ocean	det
10	Indian	Indian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 Ocean	amod
11	Ocean	Ocean	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	15 arrival	case
13	to	to	ADP	_	12 prior	fixed
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 arrival	det
15	arrival	arrival	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 Portuguese	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 Portuguese	det
18	Portuguese	Portuguese	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 arrival	nmod
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the Indian Ocean	of the following statements; prior the arrival of the Portuguese; accurately property	tree rules
3	arrive		the Portuguese			nom arrival «act intransitive»: of=agent

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 right answer

An extensive commercial world linking East Africa, Arabia, India, South-East Asia and China

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 world	det
2	extensive	extensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 world	amod
3	commercial	commercial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 world	amod
4	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	linking	link	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 world	acl
6	East	East	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Africa	compound
7	Africa	Africa	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Arabia	compound
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 Arabia	punct
9	Arabia	Arabia	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 Asia	nsubj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 India	punct
11	India	India	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Arabia	appos
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 South	punct
13	South	South	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Arabia	appos
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	13 South	punct
15	East	East	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 Asia	compound
16	Asia	Asia	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 linking	obj
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 China	cc
18	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 Asia	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	link	gerund	a extensive commercial world not said here	East Asia and China					vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent asia=Patient

Option 2

A sea navigated exclusively by vessels of Roman origin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 sea	det
2	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	navigated	navigate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 sea	acl
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 navigated	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 vessels	case
6	vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 navigated	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 origin	case
8	Roman	roman	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 origin	amod
9	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 vessels	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	navigate	participle		a sea not said here				by vessels of Roman origin; exclusively property	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

An expanse of sea traversed by no merchant vessels whatsoever prior to the year 1498

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 expanse	det
2	expanse	expanse	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 sea	case
4	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expanse	nmod
5	traversed	traverse	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 expanse	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 vessels	case
7	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	9 vessels	det
8	merchant	merchant	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 vessels	compound
9	vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 traversed	obl
10	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	9 vessels	advmod
11	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	14 year	case
12	to	to	ADP	_	11 prior	fixed
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 year	det
14	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expanse	nmod
15	1498	1498	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	14 year	flat

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	traverse	participle		a expanse of sea prior the year not said here				by no merchant vessels	vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme

Option 4

A region closed to commerce by the decree of the Ming emperor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 region	det
2	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	closed	close	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 region	acl
4	to	to	PART	_	5 commerce	mark
5	commerce	commerce	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 closed	advcl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 decree	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 decree	det
8	decree	decree	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 closed	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 emperor	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 emperor	det
11	Ming	Ming	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 emperor	compound
12	emperor	emperor	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 decree	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	close	participle		a region not said here				by the decree of the Ming emperor	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	decree		the Ming emperor						nom decree «communication intransitive»: of=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean/e2/