Exam question 3 · Slavery and its abolition

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the conduct of enslaved people under slavery?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, enslave, conduct · To what, where: conduct, enslaved people

This is exam question 3 of lesson 31 «Slavery and its abolition» 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 conduct	det
10	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 people	case
12	enslaved	enslave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 people	amod
13	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 conduct	nmod
14	under	under	ADP	_	15 slavery	case
15	slavery	slavery	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 people	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the conduct of enslaved people under slavery	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	enslave	participle			vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	conduct		enslaved people under slavery		nom conduct «act transitive»: of=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

They were free to depart at will

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 free	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 free	cop
3	free	free	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 depart	mark
5	depart	depart	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 free	xcomp
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 will	case
7	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 depart	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	They					free property	tree rules
2	depart	to-infinitive	They not said here						vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They resisted by diverse means, including escape and revolt

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	2 resisted	nsubj
2	resisted	resist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	by	by	SCONJ	_	5 means	mark
4	diverse	diverse	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 means	nsubj
5	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 resisted	ccomp
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 escape	punct
7	including	including	ADP	_	8 escape	case
8	escape	escape	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 means	obj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 revolt	cc
10	revolt	revolt	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 escape	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	resist	past	They						tree rules
2	mean	present	diverse	escape and revolt					vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent escape=Topic

Option 3

They acquiesced without any resistance

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	2 acquiesced	nsubj
2	acquiesced	acquiesce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	without	without	ADP	_	5 resistance	case
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	5 resistance	det
5	resistance	resistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 acquiesced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	acquiesce	past	They					without any resistance	vn acquiesce-95.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

They were remunerated for their labour

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 remunerated	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 remunerated	aux:pass
3	remunerated	remunerate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 labour	case
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 labour	nmod:poss
6	labour	labour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remunerated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remunerate	past · passive		They				for their labour	vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient

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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