Exam question 3 · Castile, Portugal and the first sea empires

Ascertain the principal factors which enabled a small Spanish force to subjugate Tenochtitlan in 1521.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, principal factors · What happens: ascertain, enable, subjugate · To what, where: principal factors, small Spanish force, Tenochtitlan, 1521

This is exam question 3 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 factors	det
3	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 factors	compound
4	factors	factor	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascertain	obj
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 enabled	nsubj
6	enabled	enable	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 factors	acl:relcl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 force	det
8	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 force	amod
9	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 force	amod
10	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 enabled	obj
11	to	to	PART	_	12 subjugate	mark
12	subjugate	subjugate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 force	acl
13	Tenochtitlan	Tenochtitlan	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 subjugate	obj
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 1521	case
15	1521	1521	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	12 subjugate	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal factors		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent factor=Topic
2	enable	past	the principal factors	a small Spanish force		tree rules
3	subjugate	to-infinitive	the principal factors not said here	Tenochtitlan	1521	vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tenochtitlan=Patient

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 voluntary abdication of the Aztec state to Portugal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 abdication	det
2	voluntary	voluntary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 abdication	amod
3	abdication	abdication	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 state	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 state	det
6	Aztec	Aztec	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 state	compound
7	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 abdication	nmod
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 Portugal	case
9	Portugal	Portugal	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 state	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abdicate		the Aztec state to Portugal						nom abdication «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Numerous Indigenous allies and the ravages of introduced disease

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 allies	amod
2	Indigenous	indigenous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 allies	amod
3	allies	ally	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 ravages	cc
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 ravages	det
6	ravages	ravage	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 allies	conj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 disease	case
8	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 disease	amod
9	disease	disease	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 ravages	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	participle							vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	ravage			introduced disease					nom ravage «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Superior Spanish numbers exceeding those of the Aztecs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Superior	superior	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 numbers	amod
2	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 numbers	amod
3	numbers	number	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	exceeding	exceed	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 numbers	acl
5	those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	4 exceeding	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 Aztecs	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Aztecs	det
8	Aztecs	Aztec	PROPN	Number=Plur	5 those	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exceed	gerund	Superior Spanish numbers not said here	Superior Spanish numbers					vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot that=Theme

Option 4

The absence of any Aztec armed resistance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 absence	det
2	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 resistance	case
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 resistance	det
5	Aztec	Aztec	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 resistance	compound
6	armed	armed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 resistance	amod
7	resistance	resistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absent			any Aztec armed resistance					nom absence «state 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/33-castile-portugal-and-the-first-sea-empires/e3/