Exam question 2 · Castile, Portugal and the first sea empires

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the knowledge of educated Europeans concerning the shape of the Earth in 1492?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: knowledge · What happens: follow, characteris, concern · To what, where: knowledge, shape, 1492

This is exam question 2 of lesson 33 «Castile, Portugal and the first sea empires» 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	10 knowledge	det
10	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 Europeans	case
12	educated	educated	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 Europeans	amod
13	Europeans	European	PROPN	Number=Plur	10 knowledge	nmod
14	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 knowledge	acl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 shape	det
16	shape	shape	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 concerning	obj
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 Earth	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 Earth	det
19	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 shape	nmod
20	in	in	ADP	_	21 1492	case
21	1492	1492	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	14 concerning	obl
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the knowledge of educated Europeans		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	concern	gerund	the knowledge of educated Europeans not said here	the shape of the Earth	1492		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus shape=Experiencer

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 Earth was universally believed to be flat and bounded by an abyss

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Earth	det
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 believed	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 believed	aux:pass
4	universally	universally	ADV	_	5 believed	advmod
5	believed	believe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	8 flat	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 flat	cop
8	flat	flat	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 believed	xcomp
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 bounded	cc
10	bounded	bound	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 believed	conj
11	by	by	ADP	_	13 abyss	case
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 abyss	det
13	abyss	abyss	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 bounded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	believe	past · passive	the Earth	universally property	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus
2	is	to-infinitive		flat property	tree rules
3	bound	participle		by a abyss	vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by abyss=Trajectory

Option 2

The Earth was considered to be cubical

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Earth	det
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 considered	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 considered	aux:pass
4	considered	consider	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	7 cubical	mark
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 cubical	cop
7	cubical	cubical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 considered	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consider	past · passive		the Earth					vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute
2	is	to-infinitive						cubical property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The Earth was already understood to be spherical

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Earth	det
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 understood	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 understood	aux:pass
4	already	already	ADV	_	5 understood	advmod
5	understood	understand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	8 spherical	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 spherical	cop
8	spherical	spherical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 understood	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	understand	past · passive		the Earth					vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus
2	is	to-infinitive						spherical property	tree rules

Option 4

The shape of the Earth was wholly unknown

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 shape	det
2	shape	shape	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 unknown	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 Earth	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Earth	det
5	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 shape	nmod
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 unknown	cop
7	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	8 unknown	advmod
8	unknown	unknown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the shape of the Earth					unknown, wholly 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.

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