Exam question 3 · Rome: the empire, the legions and the roads

Ascertain the principle whereby the aqueducts conveyed water to the cities.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, aqueducts · What happens: ascertain, convey · To what, where: principle, water, cities

This is exam question 3 of lesson 14 «Rome: the empire, the legions and the roads» 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 principle	det
3	principle	principle	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	1 Ascertain	obj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 aqueducts	det
6	aqueducts	aqueduct	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 whereby	nsubj
7	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 aqueducts	acl
8	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 conveyed	obj
9	to	to	ADP	_	11 cities	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 cities	det
11	cities	city	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 conveyed	obl
12	.	.	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 principle					vn ensure-99 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Precondition principle=Beneficiary whereby=Theme
2	convey	participle	the aqueducts not said here	water	the cities				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent water=Topic to city=Recipient

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

Mechanical pumps driven by steam

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mechanical	mechanical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 pumps	amod
2	pumps	pump	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	driven	drive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 pumps	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 steam	case
5	steam	steam	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 driven	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drive	participle		Mechanical pumps not said here				by steam	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

The labour of slaves bearing vessels

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 labour	det
2	labour	labour	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 slaves	case
4	slaves	slave	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 labour	nmod
5	bearing	bear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 slaves	acl
6	vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 bearing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bear	gerund	slaves not said here	vessels					vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vessel=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A gradual descending gradient

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 gradient	det
2	gradual	gradual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 gradient	amod
3	descending	descending	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 gradient	compound
4	gradient	gradient	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

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

Option 4

The force of the wind upon sails

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 force	det
2	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 wind	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 wind	det
5	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 force	nmod
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 sails	case
7	sails	sail	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 wind	nmod

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

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/14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads/e3/