Exam question 4 · Rome: from a town on seven hills to a republic

Ascertain the reason for which Julius Caesar was slain by senators in 44 BC.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, senators · What happens: ascertain, slay · To what, where: reason, Julius, 44

This is exam question 4 of lesson 13 «Rome: from a town on seven hills to a republic» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 slain	obl
6	Julius	Julius	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 slain	nsubj:pass
7	Caesar	Caesar	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Julius	flat
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 slain	aux:pass
9	slain	slay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 senators	case
11	senators	senator	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 slain	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 44	case
13	44	44	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	9 slain	obl
14	BC	BC	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 44	nmod:unmarked
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	slay	past · passive	senators	Julius		44 BC		for the reason	vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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

He had surrendered all of Gaul to the enemy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 surrendered	nsubj
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 surrendered	aux
3	surrendered	surrender	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 Gaul	det
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 Gaul	case
6	Gaul	Gaul	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 surrendered	obj
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 enemy	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 enemy	det
9	enemy	enemy	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 surrendered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	surrender	past · perfect	He	all Gaul	the enemy				vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent gaul=Theme to enemy=Recipient

Option 2

He had abolished the month of July

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 abolished	nsubj
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 abolished	aux
3	abolished	abolish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 month	det
5	month	month	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 abolished	obl:unmarked
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 July	case
7	July	July	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 month	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abolish	past · perfect	He				month		vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They apprehended that he intended to make himself king

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 apprehended	nsubj
2	apprehended	apprehend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 intended	mark
4	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 intended	nsubj
5	intended	intend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 apprehended	advcl
6	to	to	PART	_	7 make	mark
7	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 intended	xcomp
8	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	7 make	obj
9	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 make	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	apprehend	past	They		vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
2	intend	past	he		vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	make not said to happen	to-infinitive	he not said here	himself = he	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset himself=Beneficiary king=Product

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

He had been defeated by Hannibal in Italy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 defeated	nsubj:pass
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 defeated	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 defeated	aux:pass
4	defeated	defeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 Hannibal	case
6	Hannibal	Hannibal	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 defeated	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 Italy	case
8	Italy	Italy	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 defeated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	defeat	past · perfect · passive	Hannibal	He		Italy			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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