Exam question 3 · Mesopotamia: wheels, laws and empires

Ascertain the principal reason for which the merchants of Mesopotamia engaged in long-distance trade.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, merchants · What happens: ascertain, engage · To what, where: principal reason, distance trade

This is exam question 3 of lesson 4 «Mesopotamia: wheels, laws and empires» 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	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 engaged	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 merchants	det
8	merchants	merchant	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 engaged	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 Mesopotamia	case
10	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 merchants	nmod
11	engaged	engage	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
12	in	in	ADP	_	16 trade	case
13	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 distance	amod
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	13 long	punct
15	distance	distance	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 trade	compound
16	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 engaged	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	engage	past	the merchants of Mesopotamia					in distance trade goal; for the principal reason	vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent in trade=Goal

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 merchants were obliged to visit the ocean

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 merchants	det
2	merchants	merchant	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 obliged	nsubj:pass
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 obliged	aux:pass
4	obliged	oblige	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 visit	mark
6	visit	visit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 obliged	xcomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 ocean	det
8	ocean	ocean	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 visit	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oblige	past · passive		the merchants					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	visit	to-infinitive		the ocean					vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ocean=Co-Agent

Option 2

The region possessed a surplus of timber

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 region	det
2	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possessed	nsubj
3	possessed	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 surplus	det
5	surplus	surplus	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 possessed	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 timber	case
7	timber	timber	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 surplus	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	past	the region	a surplus of timber					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot surplus=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The region was deficient in timber, stone and metal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 region	det
2	region	region	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deficient	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 deficient	cop
4	deficient	deficient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 timber	case
6	timber	timber	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deficient	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 stone	punct
8	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 timber	conj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 metal	cc
10	metal	metal	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 timber	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the region			timber and stone and metal		deficient property	tree rules

Option 4

Agriculture was prohibited therein

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Agriculture	agriculture	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	therein	therein	ADV	_	3 prohibited	advmod

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

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