Exam question 1 · Borders: why they are where they are

Identify the principal reason for which numerous boundaries upon the African continent are rectilinear.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, numerous boundaries · What happens: identify, be · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 31 «Borders: why they are where they are» 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	DET	PronType=Int	8 boundaries	det
7	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 boundaries	amod
8	boundaries	boundary	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 rectilinear	nsubj
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	12 continent	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 continent	det
11	African	African	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 continent	amod
12	continent	continent	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 boundaries	nmod
13	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 rectilinear	cop
14	rectilinear	rectilinear	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	acl:relcl
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	is	present	which numerous boundaries upon the African continent					rectilinear 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

They correspond to Roman fortifications

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 correspond	nsubj
2	correspond	correspond	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 fortifications	case
4	Roman	roman	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 fortifications	amod
5	fortifications	fortification	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 correspond	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	correspond	present	They					to Roman fortifications	vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

They conform to the courses of ancient straight rivers

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 conform	nsubj
2	conform	conform	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 courses	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 courses	det
5	courses	course	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 conform	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 rivers	case
7	ancient	ancient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 rivers	amod
8	straight	straight	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 rivers	amod
9	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 courses	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conform	present	They					to the courses of ancient straight rivers goal	vn adjust-26.9 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent to course=Goal

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They were delineated upon maps by external colonial powers

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 delineated	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 delineated	aux:pass
3	delineated	delineate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 maps	case
5	maps	map	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 delineated	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 powers	case
7	external	external	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 powers	amod
8	colonial	colonial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 powers	amod
9	powers	power	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 delineated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	delineate	past · passive	external colonial powers	They				upon maps	vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 4

They were selected by African rulers for reasons of equity

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 selected	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 selected	aux:pass
3	selected	select	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 rulers	case
5	African	African	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 rulers	amod
6	rulers	ruler	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 selected	obl
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 reasons	case
8	reasons	reason	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 selected	obl:agent
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 equity	case
10	equity	equity	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 reasons	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	select	past · passive	reasons of equity	They				by African rulers	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

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/31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are/e1/