Exam question 3 · China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the scholarly position in respect of the Xia dynasty?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, respect · To what, where: scholarly position, respect, Xia dynasty

This is exam question 3 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 position	det
10	scholarly	scholarly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 position	amod
11	position	position	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 respect	case
13	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 position	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	17 dynasty	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 dynasty	det
16	Xia	Xia	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 dynasty	compound
17	dynasty	dynasty	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 respect	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the scholarly position	respect of the Xia dynasty	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	respect		the Xia dynasty			nom respect «cognition 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 right answer

Its historicity remains debated, no contemporaneous writing having been recovered

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 remains	nmod:poss
2	historicity	historicity	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remains	compound
3	remains	remains	NOUN	Number=Ptan	4 debated	nsubj:pass
4	debated	debate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 writing	punct
6	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	8 writing	det
7	contemporaneous	contemporaneous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 writing	amod
8	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 debated	obl
9	having	have	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 writing	acl
10	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	11 recovered	aux:pass
11	recovered	recover	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 having	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	debate	participle · passive		Its historicity remains	no contemporaneous writing obl	vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Agent
2	have	gerund	no contemporaneous writing not said here			tree rules
3	recover	participle · passive	no contemporaneous writing not said here			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»

Option 2

It is conclusively attested by numerous Xia inscriptions upon bronze vessels and stone

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	4 attested	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 attested	aux:pass
3	conclusively	conclusively	ADV	_	4 attested	advmod
4	attested	attest	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	8 inscriptions	case
6	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 inscriptions	amod
7	Xia	Xia	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 inscriptions	compound
8	inscriptions	inscription	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 attested	obl
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 vessels	case
10	bronze	bronze	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 vessels	compound
11	vessels	vessel	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 inscriptions	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 stone	cc
13	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 vessels	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attest	present · passive	numerous Xia inscriptions upon bronze vessels and stone	It				conclusively property	tree rules

Option 3

It is universally regarded as a modern fabrication

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	4 regarded	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 regarded	aux:pass
3	universally	universally	ADV	_	4 regarded	advmod
4	regarded	regard	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	as	as	ADP	_	8 fabrication	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 fabrication	det
7	modern	modern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 fabrication	amod
8	fabrication	fabrication	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 regarded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	regard	present · passive		It				as a modern fabrication; universally property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.value»: subject=Theme as fabrication=Value

Option 4

It is identified with the Qin unification of 221 BC

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 identified	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 identified	aux:pass
3	identified	identify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	7 unification	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 unification	det
6	Qin	Qin	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 unification	compound
7	unification	unification	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 identified	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 221	case
9	221	221	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	7 unification	nmod
10	BC	BC	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 221	nmod:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	present · passive		It				with the Qin unification of 221 BC	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: 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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