Exam question 2 · The Mongols

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the circumstances of trade across Asia under the Pax Mongolica?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: circumstances, Asia

This is exam question 2 of lesson 23 «The Mongols» 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 circumstances	det
10	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 trade	case
12	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 circumstances	nmod
13	across	across	ADP	_	14 Asia	case
14	Asia	Asia	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 circumstances	nmod
15	under	under	ADP	_	18 Mongolica	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 Mongolica	det
17	Pax	Pax	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 Mongolica	compound
18	Mongolica	Mongolica	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
19	?	?	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 circumstances of trade		Asia		of the following statements; under the Pax Mongolica; 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

All trade was prohibited

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 trade	det
2	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prohibited	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 prohibited	aux:pass
4	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	past · passive		all trade					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

Trade was conducted solely with Japan

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conducted	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 conducted	aux:pass
3	conducted	conduct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 conducted	advmod
5	with	with	ADP	_	6 Japan	case
6	Japan	Japan	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 conducted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conduct	past · passive		Trade				with Japan; solely property	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Merchants could travel with comparative safety

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Merchants	merchant	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 travel	nsubj
2	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 travel	aux
3	travel	travel	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 safety	case
5	comparative	comparative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 safety	amod
6	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 travel	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	travel	could	Merchants					with comparative safety	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Merchants were obliged to travel by sea around India and Arabia

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Merchants	merchant	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 obliged	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 obliged	aux:pass
3	obliged	oblige	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 travel	mark
5	travel	travel	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 obliged	xcomp
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 sea	case
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 travel	obl
8	around	around	ADP	_	9 India	case
9	India	India	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 travel	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 Arabia	cc
11	Arabia	Arabia	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 India	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oblige	past · passive		Merchants					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	travel	to-infinitive				India and Arabia		by sea	vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by sea=Trajectory

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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