Exam question 3 · China: the First Emperor, the Terracotta Army and the Grea…

Ascertain the principal reason for which the main tomb of the First Emperor remains unopened.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, main tomb · What happens: ascertain, remain · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 3 of lesson 52 «China: the First Emperor, the Terracotta Army and the Great Wall» 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	14 remains	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 tomb	det
8	main	main	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 tomb	amod
9	tomb	tomb	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 remains	nsubj
10	of	of	ADP	_	13 Emperor	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 Emperor	det
12	First	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	13 Emperor	amod
13	Emperor	Emperor	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 tomb	nmod
14	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
15	unopened	unopened	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 remains	xcomp
16	.	.	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	remain	present	the main tomb of the First Emperor					for the principal reason; unopened property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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

Its submersion beneath the sea

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	2 submersion	nmod:poss
2	submersion	submersion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	beneath	beneath	ADP	_	5 sea	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 sea	det
5	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 submersion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	submerse		Its = it					beneath the sea	nom submersion «event transitive»: poss=agent beneath=obl

Option 2

Its contents having been removed in antiquity

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	2 contents	nmod:poss
2	contents	contents	NOUN	Number=Ptan	5 removed	nsubj:pass
3	having	have	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 removed	aux
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 removed	aux:pass
5	removed	remove	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 antiquity	case
7	antiquity	antiquity	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 removed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remove	gerund · perfect · passive		Its contents		antiquity			vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The preservation of its contents by archaeologists

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 preservation	det
2	preservation	preservation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 contents	case
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 contents	nmod:poss
5	contents	contents	NOUN	Number=Ptan	2 preservation	nmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 archaeologists	case
7	archaeologists	archaeologist	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 preservation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	preserve		archaeologists	preservation's contents					nom preservation «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent

Option 4

A curse attested by scientific inquiry

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 curse	det
2	curse	curse	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	attested	attest	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 curse	acl
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 inquiry	case
5	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 inquiry	amod
6	inquiry	inquiry	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 attested	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attest	participle		a curse not said here				by scientific inquiry	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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/52-china-the-first-emperor-the-terracotta-army-and-the-great-wall/e3/