Exam question 2 · The first people: hunters, gatherers and cave painters

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the mode of subsistence of humankind for the greater part of its history?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: humankind · What happens: follow, characteris, subsist · To what, where: mode

This is exam question 2 of lesson 1 «The first people: hunters, gatherers and cave painters» of the history 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 mode	det
10	mode	mode	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 subsistence	case
12	subsistence	subsistence	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 mode	nmod
13	of	of	ADP	_	14 humankind	case
14	humankind	humankind	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 subsistence	nmod
15	for	for	ADP	_	18 part	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 part	det
17	greater	great	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	18 part	amod
18	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
19	of	of	ADP	_	21 history	case
20	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	21 history	nmod:poss
21	history	history	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 part	nmod
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the mode of subsistence of humankind	of the following statements; for the greater part of part's history; accurately property	tree rules
3	subsist		humankind			nom subsistence «possession intransitive»: of=agent

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 right answer

Hunting, fishing and the gathering of wild plants

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hunting	hunting	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 fishing	punct
3	fishing	fishing	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Hunting	conj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 gathering	cc
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 gathering	det
6	gathering	gathering	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Hunting	conj
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 plants	case
8	wild	wild	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 plants	amod
9	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 gathering	nmod

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

Option 2

The rearing of cattle in enclosed barns

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 rearing	det
2	rearing	rearing	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 cattle	case
4	cattle	cattle	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 rearing	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 barns	case
6	enclosed	enclose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 barns	amod
7	barns	barn	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cattle	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enclose	participle							vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme

Option 3

The purchase of provisions in urban markets

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 purchase	det
2	purchase	purchase	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 provisions	case
4	provisions	provision	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 purchase	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 markets	case
6	urban	urban	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 markets	amod
7	markets	market	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 purchase	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	purchase			provisions		urban markets			nom purchase «act transitive»: of=patient in=place

Option 4

The cultivation of cereals in permanent fields

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cultivation	det
2	cultivation	cultivation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 cereals	case
4	cereals	cereal	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cultivation	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 fields	case
6	permanent	permanent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 fields	amod
7	fields	field	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 cereals	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cultivate			cereals in permanent fields					nom cultivation «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/1-the-first-people/e2/