Exam question 4 · Castles, knights and cathedrals

Ascertain the principal reason for which castle fortifications declined in military utility from the fifteenth century onwards.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, castle fortifications · What happens: ascertain, decline · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 4 of lesson 21 «Castles, knights and cathedrals» 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	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 declined	obl
7	castle	castle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 fortifications	compound
8	fortifications	fortification	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 declined	nsubj
9	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 utility	case
11	military	military	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 utility	amod
12	utility	utility	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 declined	obl
13	from	from	ADP	_	16 century	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 century	det
15	fifteenth	fifteenth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 century	amod
16	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 declined	obl
17	onwards	onwards	ADV	_	9 declined	advmod
18	.	.	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 principal reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	decline	past	castle fortifications				century	for the principal reason; in military utility; onwards property	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in utility=Attribute

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 prohibition of castles by the Church throughout Christendom

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 prohibition	det
2	prohibition	prohibition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 castles	case
4	castles	castle	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 prohibition	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 Church	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Church	det
7	Church	Church	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 prohibition	nmod
8	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	9 Christendom	case
9	Christendom	Christendom	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Church	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit		the Church throughout Christendom	castles					nom prohibition «communication transitive»: of=patient by=agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The advent of cannon capable of breaching stone walls

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 advent	det
2	advent	advent	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 capable	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 cannon	case
4	cannon	cannon	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 advent	nmod
5	capable	capable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 breaching	mark
7	breaching	breach	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 capable	advcl
8	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 walls	compound
9	walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 breaching	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	breach	gerund		stone walls					tree rules

Option 3

The abolition of knighthood

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 abolition	det
2	abolition	abolition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 knighthood	case
4	knighthood	knighthood	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 abolition	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abolish			knighthood					nom abolition «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The disappearance of moats through drought

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 disappearance	det
2	disappearance	disappearance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 moats	case
4	moats	moat	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 disappearance	nmod
5	through	through	ADP	_	6 drought	case
6	drought	drought	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disappearance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disappear		moats			drought			nom disappearance «act intransitive»: of=agent through=place

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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