Exam question 1 · The Atlantic routes and the slave trade

Identify the principal reason for which vessels crossing the Atlantic followed different routes outward and homeward.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, vessels · What happens: identify, cross, follow · To what, where: principal reason, Atlantic, different routes

This is exam question 1 of lesson 30 «The Atlantic routes and the slave trade» 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	11 followed	obl
7	vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 followed	nsubj
8	crossing	cross	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 vessels	acl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Atlantic	det
10	Atlantic	Atlantic	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 crossing	obj
11	followed	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
12	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 routes	amod
13	routes	route	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 followed	obj
14	outward	outward	ADV	_	11 followed	advmod
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 homeward	cc
16	homeward	homeward	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	conj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason and homeward		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	cross	gerund	vessels not said here	the Atlantic		vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent atlantic=Patient
3	follow	past	vessels	different routes	for the principal reason and homeward; outward property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent route=Theme for which=Attribute

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

The homeward route was invariably obstructed by ice

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 route	det
2	homeward	homeward	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 route	compound
3	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 obstructed	nsubj:pass
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 obstructed	aux:pass
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	6 obstructed	advmod
6	obstructed	obstruct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 ice	case
8	ice	ice	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 obstructed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obstruct	past · passive	ice	the homeward route				invariably property	vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Eventuality

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They exploited the trade winds outward and the westerlies homeward

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	2 exploited	nsubj
2	exploited	exploit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 trade	det
4	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 winds	nsubj
5	winds	wind	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 exploited	ccomp
6	outward	outward	ADV	_	5 winds	advmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 homeward	cc
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 westerlies	det
9	westerlies	westerly	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 homeward	compound
10	homeward	homeward	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exploited	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exploit	past	They						vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	wind	present	the trade					outward property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

Customs regulations forbade the return by the outward route

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Customs	custom	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 regulations	compound
2	regulations	regulation	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 forbade	nsubj
3	forbade	forbid	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 return	det
5	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 forbade	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 route	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 route	det
8	outward	outward	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 route	amod
9	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 forbade	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	forbid	past	Customs regulations	the return				by the outward route	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer return=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The outward route was shorter only in the summer months

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 route	det
2	outward	outward	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 route	amod
3	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 shorter	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 shorter	cop
5	shorter	short	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
6	only	only	ADV	_	10 months	advmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 months	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 months	det
9	summer	summer	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 months	compound
10	months	month	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 shorter	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the outward route				month	short property	tree rules

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/30-the-atlantic-routes-and-the-slave-trade/e1/