Exam question 1 · The people who were already there: what colonisation did

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Americas at the time of European arrival in 1492?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: Americas

This is exam question 1 of lesson 36 «The people who were already there: what colonisation did» 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 Americas	det
10	Americas	AMERICAS	PROPN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	at	at	ADP	_	13 time	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 time	det
13	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 arrival	case
15	European	European	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 arrival	amod
16	arrival	arrival	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 time	nmod
17	in	in	ADP	_	18 1492	case
18	1492	1492	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	16 arrival	nmod
19	?	?	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 Americas			time	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

The continents were wholly uninhabited

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 continents	det
2	continents	continent	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 uninhabited	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 uninhabited	cop
4	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	5 uninhabited	advmod
5	uninhabited	uninhabited	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the continents					uninhabited, wholly property	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The continents were inhabited by tens of millions of persons in numerous nations

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 continents	det
2	continents	continent	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 inhabited	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 inhabited	aux:pass
4	inhabited	inhabit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 tens	case
6	tens	ten	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 inhabited	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 millions	case
8	millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 tens	nmod
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 persons	case
10	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 millions	nmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 nations	case
12	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 nations	amod
13	nations	nation	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 inhabited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inhabit	past · passive	tens of millions of persons	the continents		numerous nations			tree rules

Option 3

The continents were already Spanish possessions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 continents	det
2	continents	continent	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 possessions	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 possessions	cop
4	already	already	ADV	_	6 possessions	advmod
5	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 possessions	amod
6	possessions	possession	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	the continents	Spanish possessions					tree rules

Option 4

The continents were peopled solely by itinerant hunters numbering some hundreds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 continents	det
2	continents	continent	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 peopled	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 peopled	aux:pass
4	peopled	people	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	4 peopled	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 hunters	case
7	itinerant	itinerant	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 hunters	compound
8	hunters	hunter	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 peopled	obl
9	numbering	number	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 hunters	acl
10	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	11 hundreds	det
11	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 numbering	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	people	past · passive	itinerant hunters	the continents				solely property	tree rules
2	number	gerund	itinerant hunters not said here	some hundreds					vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hundred=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/36-the-people-who-were-already-there/e1/