Exam question 3 · China: the four great inventions

Ascertain the purpose pursued by those alchemists to whom the discovery of gunpowder is attributed.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, pursue, attribute, discover · To what, where: purpose, discovery, gunpowder

This is exam question 3 of lesson 53 «China: the four great inventions» 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	3 purpose	det
3	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	pursued	pursue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 purpose	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 alchemists	case
6	those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	7 alchemists	det
7	alchemists	alchemist	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 pursued	obl
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 whom	case
9	whom	whom	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 alchemists	nmod
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 discovery	det
11	discovery	discovery	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 attributed	nsubj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 gunpowder	case
13	gunpowder	gunpowder	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 discovery	nmod
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 attributed	aux:pass
15	attributed	attribute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 whom	acl:relcl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the purpose		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Topic
2	pursue	participle		the purpose not said here	by that alchemists	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by alchemist=Trajectory
3	attribute	present · passive		the discovery of gunpowder		tree rules
4	discover			gunpowder		nom discovery «act 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

The preparation of medicines conferring long life

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 preparation	det
2	preparation	preparation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 medicines	case
4	medicines	medicine	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 preparation	nmod
5	conferring	confer	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 medicines	acl
6	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 life	amod
7	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 conferring	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confer	gerund	medicines not said here	long life					tree rules
2	prepare			medicines					nom preparation «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The detection of earthquakes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 detection	det
2	detection	detection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 earthquakes	case
4	earthquakes	earthquake	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 detection	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	detect			earthquakes					nom detection «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The navigation of ships at sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 navigation	det
2	navigation	navigation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 ships	case
4	ships	ship	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 navigation	nmod
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 sea	case
6	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 navigation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	navigate			ships		sea			nom navigation «act transitive»: of=patient at=place

Option 4

The manufacture of porcelain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 manufacture	det
2	manufacture	manufacture	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 porcelain	case
4	porcelain	porcelain	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 manufacture	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	manufacture			porcelain					nom manufacture «act transitive»: of=patient

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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