Exam question 3 · Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the term cuneiform.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, term cuneiform

This is exam question 3 of lesson 3 «Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 cuneiform	det
11	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 cuneiform	compound
12	cuneiform	cuneiform	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the term cuneiform		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus cuneiform=Experiencer

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 signifies wedge-shaped

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	2 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	wedge	wedge	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 shaped	compound
4	-	-	PUNCT	_	3 wedge	punct
5	shaped	shape	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 signifies	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It						tree rules
2	shape	participle							vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

Option 2

It signifies picture of a bird

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	2 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signifies	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 bird	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 bird	det
6	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 picture	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It	picture of a bird					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot picture=Theme

Option 3

It signifies written upon papyrus

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 written	nsubj:pass
2	signifies	signify	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 written	aux:pass
3	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 papyrus	case
5	papyrus	papyrus	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 written	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	present · passive		It				upon papyrus	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

It signifies sacred carving

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	2 signifies	nsubj
2	signifies	signify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	sacred	sacred	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 carving	amod
4	carving	carving	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 signifies	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	signify	present	It	sacred carving					vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot carving=Theme

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/e3/