Exam question 4 · Kyiv's beginnings and Kyivan Rus

Ascertain the principal reason for which historians verify the Primary Chronicle against other evidence.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, historians · What happens: ascertain, verify · To what, where: principal reason, Primary Chronicle

This is exam question 4 of lesson 41 «Kyiv's beginnings and Kyivan Rus» 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	8 verify	obl
7	historians	historian	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 verify	nsubj
8	verify	verify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Chronicle	det
10	Primary	Primary	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Chronicle	compound
11	Chronicle	Chronicle	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 verify	obj
12	against	against	ADP	_	14 evidence	case
13	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 evidence	amod
14	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 verify	obl
15	.	.	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	verify	present	historians	the Primary Chronicle				for the principal reason; against other evidence	vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot chronicle=Topic

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 composed in the twentieth century

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 composed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 composed	aux:pass
3	composed	compose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 century	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 century	det
6	twentieth	twentieth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 century	amod
7	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 composed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compose	past · passive		It			century		vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It combines factual record with legend and was composed long after many events

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 combines	nsubj
2	combines	combine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	factual	factual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 record	amod
4	record	record	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 combines	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	6 legend	case
6	legend	legend	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 record	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 composed	cc
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 composed	aux:pass
9	composed	compose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 combines	conj
10	long	long	ADV	Degree=Pos	9 composed	advmod
11	after	after	ADP	_	13 events	case
12	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 events	amod
13	events	event	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 composed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	combine	present	It	factual record				with legend	vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent record=Patient with legend=Co-Patient
2	compose	past · passive					after many events	long property	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»

Option 3

It was written in a language no one can read

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	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 written	aux:pass
3	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 language	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 language	det
6	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 written	obl
7	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	8 one	det
8	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 read	nsubj
9	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 read	aux
10	read	read	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 language	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	write	past · passive		It		a language			vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in language=Destination
2	read	can	no one	a language not said here					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent language=Topic

Option 4

It contradicts every known coin and building

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 contradicts	nsubj
2	contradicts	contradict	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	5 coin	det
4	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 coin	amod
5	coin	coin	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 contradicts	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 building	cc
7	building	building	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 coin	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contradict	present	It	every known coin and building					tree rules
2	know	participle							vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

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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