Exam question 2 · China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties

Identify the material upon which the earliest known Chinese writing was inscribed.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, know, inscribe · To what, where: material, earliest known Chinese writing

This is exam question 2 of lesson 51 «China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties» 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	3 material	det
3	material	material	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	upon	upon	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 inscribed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 writing	det
7	earliest	early	ADJ	Degree=Sup	10 writing	amod
8	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 writing	amod
9	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 writing	amod
10	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 inscribed	nsubj:pass
11	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 inscribed	aux:pass
12	inscribed	inscribe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 material	acl:relcl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the material		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent material=Theme
2	know	participle				vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
3	inscribe	past · passive		the earliest known Chinese writing	the material	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon which=Destination

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

Sheets of paper manufactured by Cai Lun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sheets	sheet	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 manufactured	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 paper	case
3	paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Sheets	nmod
4	manufactured	manufacture	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 Lun	case
6	Cai	Cai	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Lun	compound
7	Lun	Lun	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 manufactured	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	manufacture	participle	Sheets of paper					by Cai Lun	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Silk banners of the Ming court

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Silk	silk	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 banners	amod
2	banners	banner	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 court	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 court	det
5	Ming	Ming	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 court	compound
6	court	court	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 banners	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Turtle shells and ox bones employed for divination

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Turtle	turtle	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shells	compound
2	shells	shell	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 bones	cc
4	ox	ox	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 bones	compound
5	bones	bone	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 shells	conj
6	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 shells	acl
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 divination	case
8	divination	divination	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	participle		Turtle shells and ox bones not said here				for divination	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent for divination=Eventuality

Option 4

Clay tablets imported from Mesopotamia

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Clay	clay	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 tablets	compound
2	tablets	tablet	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	imported	import	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 tablets	acl
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 Mesopotamia	case
5	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 imported	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	import	participle		Clay tablets not said here		Mesopotamia			vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent from mesopotamia=Initial_Location

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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