Exam question 3 · Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the history of printing.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, history

This is exam question 3 of lesson 10 «Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 history	det
11	history	history	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 printing	case
13	printing	printing	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 history	nmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the history of printing		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus history=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

Printing was devised in Rome

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Printing	printing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 devised	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 devised	aux:pass
3	devised	devise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 Rome	case
5	Rome	Rome	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 devised	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	devise	past · passive		Printing		Rome			vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 2

Printing was devised by Confucius

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Printing	printing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 devised	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 devised	aux:pass
3	devised	devise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 Confucius	case
5	Confucius	Confucius	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 devised	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	devise	past · passive	Confucius	Printing					vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Block printing in China preceded Gutenberg's press by several centuries

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Block	block	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 printing	compound
2	printing	printing	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 preceded	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 China	case
4	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 printing	nmod
5	preceded	proceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	Gutenberg	Gutenberg	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 press	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 Gutenberg	case
8	press	press	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 preceded	obj
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 centuries	case
10	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 centuries	amod
11	centuries	century	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 preceded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	block	infinitive				vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Causer
2	proceed	past	Block printing in China	Gutenberg's press	century	tree rules
3	press		Gutenberg			nom press «state intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

Printing was entirely unknown prior to Gutenberg's press

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Printing	printing	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 unknown	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 unknown	cop
3	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	4 unknown	advmod
4	unknown	unknown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	9 press	case
6	to	to	ADP	_	5 prior	fixed
7	Gutenberg	Gutenberg	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 press	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 Gutenberg	case
9	press	press	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 unknown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	Printing					prior Gutenberg's press; entirely, unknown property	tree rules
2	press		Gutenberg						nom press «state intransitive»: poss=agent

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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