Exam question 3 · The Maya

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Maya conception of zero?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: Maya conception

This is exam question 3 of lesson 18 «The Maya» 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	11 conception	det
10	Maya	Maya	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 conception	compound
11	conception	conception	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 zero	case
13	zero	zero	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 conception	nmod
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the Maya conception of zero				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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 · ✓ the right answer

It was devised independently and represented by a shell

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	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	independently	independently	ADV	_	3 devised	advmod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 represented	cc
6	represented	represent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 devised	conj
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 shell	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 shell	det
9	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 represented	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	devise	past · passive		It				independently property	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	represent	participle						by a shell	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It was unknown to them

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	3 unknown	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 unknown	cop
3	unknown	unknown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	5 them	case
5	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 unknown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	It		them = they			unknown property	tree rules

Option 3

It was introduced by Spanish priests

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	3 introduced	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 introduced	aux:pass
3	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 priests	case
5	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 priests	amod
6	priests	priest	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 introduced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	past · passive	Spanish priests	It					vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 4

It was borrowed from India by sea

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	3 borrowed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 borrowed	aux:pass
3	borrowed	borrow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 India	case
5	India	India	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 borrowed	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 sea	case
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 borrowed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	borrow	past · passive	sea	It		India			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from india=Source

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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