Exam question 3 · Explorers: Cook and the Pacific

Ascertain the means by which James Cook diminished the incidence of scurvy among his crew.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, the, James · What happens: ascertain, mean, diminish · To what, where: incidence · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 28 «Explorers: Cook and the Pacific» 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	3 means	nsubj
3	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	ccomp
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 diminished	obl
6	James	James	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 diminished	nsubj
7	Cook	Cook	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 James	flat
8	diminished	diminish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 means	ccomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 incidence	det
10	incidence	incidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 diminished	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 scurvy	case
12	scurvy	scurvy	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 incidence	nmod
13	among	among	ADP	_	15 crew	case
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 crew	nmod:poss
15	crew	crew	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 diminished	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	mean	present	the			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	diminish	past	James	the incidence of scurvy	among James's crew	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer incidence=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

The prohibition of all sleep at sea

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	_	5 sleep	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 sleep	det
5	sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prohibition	nmod
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 sea	case
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sleep	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit			all sleep at sea					nom prohibition «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The reduction of the crew to ten men

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 reduction	det
2	reduction	reduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 crew	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 crew	det
5	crew	crew	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reduction	nmod
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 men	case
7	ten	ten	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 men	nummod
8	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 reduction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reduce			the crew				to ten men	nom reduction «act transitive»: of=patient to=obl

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The provision of fresh food and sauerkraut

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 provision	det
2	provision	provision	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 food	case
4	fresh	fresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 food	amod
5	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 provision	nmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 sauerkraut	cc
7	sauerkraut	sauerkraut	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 food	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	provide		fresh food and sauerkraut						nom provision «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

The consumption of sea water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 consumption	det
2	consumption	consumption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 water	case
4	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 water	compound
5	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consumption	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consume			sea water					nom consumption «act transitive»: of=patient

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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