Exam question 1 · Ancient Egypt: the Nile and the pharaohs

Identify the principal reason for which ancient Egypt has been designated the gift of the Nile.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, designate, gift · To what, where: principal reason, ancient Egypt, Nile

This is exam question 1 of lesson 5 «Ancient Egypt: the Nile and the pharaohs» 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	Identify	identify	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 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 designated	obl
7	ancient	ancient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 Egypt	amod
8	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 designated	nsubj:pass
9	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 designated	aux
10	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	11 designated	aux:pass
11	designated	designate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 gift	det
13	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 designated	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 Nile	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Nile	det
16	Nile	Nile	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 gift	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	designate	present · perfect · passive		ancient Egypt	for the principal reason	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme gift=Attribute
3	gift			the Nile		nom gift «possession 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

The river prevented all invasions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 river	det
2	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prevented	nsubj
3	prevented	prevent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 invasions	det
5	invasions	invasion	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prevented	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevent	past	the river	all invasions					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer invasion=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The annual inundation deposited fertile soil in an otherwise arid land

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 inundation	det
2	annual	annual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 inundation	amod
3	inundation	inundation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deposited	nsubj
4	deposited	deposit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	fertile	fertile	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 soil	amod
6	soil	soil	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deposited	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	11 land	case
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 land	det
9	otherwise	otherwise	ADV	_	10 arid	advmod
10	arid	arid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 land	amod
11	land	land	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 deposited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deposit	past	the annual inundation	fertile soil		a arid land			vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent soil=Theme in land=Destination

Option 3

The river conveyed gold from the mountains

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 river	det
2	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conveyed	nsubj
3	conveyed	convey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	gold	gold	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conveyed	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 mountains	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mountains	det
7	mountains	mountain	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 conveyed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convey	past	the river	gold		the mountains			vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent gold=Theme from mountain=Initial_Location

Option 4

The river constituted a gift from Rome

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 river	det
2	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	constituted	constitute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 river	acl
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 gift	det
5	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 constituted	obj
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 Rome	case
7	Rome	Rome	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 constituted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	participle	the river not said here	a gift		Rome			vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme gift=Pivot

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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