Exam question 3 · The Black Death and the end of the Middle Ages

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the condition of surviving labourers subsequent to the plague?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: condition · What happens: follow, characteris, survive · To what, where: condition, labourers

This is exam question 3 of lesson 24 «The Black Death and the end of the Middle Ages» 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 condition	det
10	condition	condition	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	SCONJ	_	12 surviving	mark
12	surviving	survive	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 condition	acl
13	labourers	labourer	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 surviving	obj
14	subsequent	subsequent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 surviving	xcomp
15	to	to	ADP	_	17 plague	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 plague	det
17	plague	plague	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 subsequent	obl
18	?	?	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 condition	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	survive	gerund	the condition not said here	labourers	subsequent property	vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme labourer=Circumstance

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 · ✓ the right answer

Their scarcity enabled them to demand higher wages

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 scarcity	nmod:poss
2	scarcity	scarcity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 enabled	nsubj
3	enabled	enable	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 enabled	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 demand	mark
6	demand	demand	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 enabled	xcomp
7	higher	high	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 wages	amod
8	wages	wage	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 demand	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enable	past	Their scarcity	them = they					tree rules
2	demand speech: request	to-infinitive	them = they not said here	higher wages					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme wage=Precondition

Option 2

They were forbidden to work

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 forbidden	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 forbidden	aux:pass
3	forbidden	forbid	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 work	mark
5	work	work	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 forbidden	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	forbid	past · passive		They					tree rules
2	work	to-infinitive							vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Their wages were universally reduced by the lords and the king

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 wages	nmod:poss
2	wages	wage	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 reduced	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 reduced	aux:pass
4	universally	universally	ADV	_	5 reduced	advmod
5	reduced	reduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 lords	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 lords	det
8	lords	lord	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 reduced	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 king	cc
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 king	det
11	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 lords	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reduce	past · passive	the lords and the king	Their wages				universally property	vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Patient

Option 4

They were all made knights

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 made	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 made	aux:pass
3	all	all	ADV	_	4 made	advmod
4	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	knights	knight	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 made	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	past · passive		They				all property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary knight=Product

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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