Exam question 2 · The Atlantic routes and the slave trade

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Middle Passage?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: Middle Passage

This is exam question 2 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	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 Passage	det
10	Middle	Middle	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Passage	compound
11	Passage	Passage	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the Middle Passage				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

A route of the overland trade between China and Persia

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 route	det
2	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 trade	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 trade	det
5	overland	overland	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 trade	amod
6	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 route	nmod
7	between	between	ADP	_	8 China	case
8	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 trade	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 Persia	cc
10	Persia	Persia	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 China	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

The strait separating the continent of Africa from Arabia

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 strait	det
2	strait	strait	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	separating	separate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 strait	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 continent	det
5	continent	continent	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 separating	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 Africa	case
7	Africa	Africa	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 continent	nmod
8	from	from	ADP	_	9 Arabia	case
9	Arabia	Arabia	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 separating	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	separate	gerund	the strait not said here	the continent of Africa				from Arabia	vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent continent=Patient from arabia=Co-Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The crossing in which enslaved Africans were transported, in appalling conditions, to the Americas

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 crossing	det
2	crossing	crossing	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 transported	nsubj:pass
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 which	case
4	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 enslaved	nsubj
5	enslaved	enslave	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 crossing	acl:relcl
6	Africans	African	PROPN	Number=Plur	5 enslaved	obj
7	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 transported	aux:pass
8	transported	transport	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 conditions	punct
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 conditions	case
11	appalling	appalling	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 conditions	compound
12	conditions	condition	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 transported	obl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 Americas	punct
14	to	to	ADP	_	16 Americas	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Americas	det
16	Americas	AMERICAS	PROPN	Number=Plur	8 transported	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enslave	past	the crossing	Africans					vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent african=Patient
2	transport	past · passive		the crossing	the Americas	appalling conditions			vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to americas=Destination

Option 4

The return voyage of merchant vessels laden with sugar and tobacco from the Americas to Europe

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 voyage	det
2	return	return	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 voyage	amod
3	voyage	voyage	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 laden	nsubj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 vessels	case
5	merchant	merchant	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 vessels	compound
6	vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 voyage	nmod
7	laden	laden	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	with	with	ADP	_	9 sugar	case
9	sugar	sugar	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 laden	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 tobacco	cc
11	tobacco	tobacco	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 sugar	conj
12	from	from	ADP	_	14 Americas	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Americas	det
14	Americas	AMERICAS	PROPN	Number=Plur	7 laden	obl
15	to	to	ADP	_	16 Europe	case
16	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 Americas	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	laden	present	the return voyage of merchant vessels			the Americas to Europe		with sugar and tobacco	tree rules
2	voyage			merchant vessels					nom voyage «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.

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