Exam question 4 · Mesopotamia: wheels, laws and empires

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the empire established by Cyrus the Great.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts, empire · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, empire, Great

This is exam question 4 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	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	11 empire	det
11	empire	empire	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 empire	acl
13	by	by	ADP	_	14 Cyrus	case
14	Cyrus	Cyrus	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 established	obl
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Great	det
16	Great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 established	obl
17	.	.	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 empire		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus empire=Experiencer
4	establish	participle	the empire not said here	the Great	by Cyrus	vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot

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

It was governed by the Senate of Rome

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 governed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 governed	aux:pass
3	governed	govern	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 Senate	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Senate	det
6	Senate	Senate	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 governed	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 Rome	case
8	Rome	Rome	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Senate	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	govern	past · passive	the Senate of Rome	It					vn supervision-95.2.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 2

It was destroyed prior to its foundation

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 destroyed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 destroyed	aux:pass
3	destroyed	destroy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	7 foundation	case
5	to	to	ADP	_	4 prior	fixed
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 foundation	nmod:poss
7	foundation	foundation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 destroyed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	destroy	past · passive		It				prior its foundation	vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It was the most extensive empire hitherto seen and comparatively tolerant

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	6 empire	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 empire	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 empire	det
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 extensive	advmod
5	extensive	extensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 empire	amod
6	empire	empire	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	hitherto	hitherto	ADV	_	8 seen	advmod
8	seen	see	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 empire	acl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 tolerant	cc
10	comparatively	comparatively	ADV	_	11 tolerant	advmod
11	tolerant	tolerant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 seen	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	the extensive empire					tree rules
2	see	participle		the extensive empire not said here				hitherto property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

Option 4

It consisted of a single city

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 consisted	nsubj
2	consisted	consist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 city	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 city	det
5	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 city	amod
6	city	city	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 consisted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consist	past	It					of a single city	tree rules

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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