Exam question 2 · Rome: the fall of the West and what Rome left us

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the decline of the western Roman Empire?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: western Roman Empire · What happens: follow, characteris, decline · To what, where: decline

This is exam question 2 of lesson 16 «Rome: the fall of the West and what Rome left us» 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 decline	det
10	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	15 Empire	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 Empire	det
13	western	western	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 Empire	amod
14	Roman	Roman	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 Empire	compound
15	Empire	Empire	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 decline	nmod
16	?	?	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 decline of the western Roman Empire	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	decline		the western Roman Empire			nom decline «process 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

It resulted from a single catastrophe in one day

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 resulted	nsubj
2	resulted	result	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 catastrophe	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 catastrophe	det
5	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 catastrophe	amod
6	catastrophe	catastrophe	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 resulted	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 day	case
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 day	nummod
9	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 resulted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	result	past	It			a single catastrophe	day		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

It did not occur

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 occur	nsubj
2	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 occur	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 occur	advmod
4	occur	occur	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not occur	past · do-support	It						vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It resulted from numerous concurrent difficulties over a protracted period

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 resulted	nsubj
2	resulted	result	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 difficulties	case
4	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 difficulties	amod
5	concurrent	concurrent	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 difficulties	compound
6	difficulties	difficulty	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 resulted	obl
7	over	over	ADP	_	10 period	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 period	det
9	protracted	protract	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 period	amod
10	period	period	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 resulted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	result	past	It			numerous concurrent difficulties		over a protracted period	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over period=Location
2	protract	participle							vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It resulted solely from the conduct of one emperor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 resulted	nsubj
2	resulted	result	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 resulted	advmod
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 conduct	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 conduct	det
6	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 resulted	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 emperor	case
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 emperor	nummod
9	emperor	emperor	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conduct	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	result	past	It			the conduct of one emperor		solely property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	conduct			one emperor					nom conduct «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/16-rome-the-fall-of-the-west-and-what-rome-left-us/e2/