Exam question 4 · Rome: the fall of the West and what Rome left us

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the preservation of classical literature in the West.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, preserve · To what, where: response, preservation, classical literature

This is exam question 4 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	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 preservation	det
11	preservation	preservation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 literature	case
13	classical	classical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 literature	amod
14	literature	literature	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 preservation	nmod
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 West	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 West	det
17	West	West	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 literature	nmod
18	.	.	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 preservation of classical literature in the West		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus preservation=Experiencer
4	preserve			classical literature in the West		nom preservation «act transitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice

No classical books survive

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	3 books	det
2	classical	classical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 books	amod
3	books	book	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 survive	nsubj
4	survive	survive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	survive	present	no classical books						vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Monks in monasteries transcribed ancient books by hand

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Monks	monk	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 transcribed	nsubj
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 monasteries	case
3	monasteries	monastery	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Monks	nmod
4	transcribed	transcribe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	ancient	ancient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 books	amod
6	books	book	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 transcribed	obj
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 hand	case
8	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 transcribed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transcribe	past	Monks in monasteries	ancient books				by hand	vn transcribe-25.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent book=Theme by hand=Destination

Option 3

The books were printed by Gutenberg in 500

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 books	det
2	books	book	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 printed	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 printed	aux:pass
4	printed	print	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 Gutenberg	case
6	Gutenberg	Gutenberg	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 printed	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 500	case
8	500	500	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	4 printed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	print	past · passive	Gutenberg	the books		500			vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent subject=Theme in 500=Destination

Option 4

The Huns preserved them in libraries

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Huns	det
2	Huns	Hun	PROPN	Number=Plur	3 preserved	nsubj
3	preserved	preserve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 preserved	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 libraries	case
6	libraries	library	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 preserved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	preserve	past	the Huns	them = they		libraries			vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary

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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