Exam question 1 · China: the Silk Road and the Tang

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Silk Road?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: Silk Road

This is exam question 1 of lesson 54 «China: the Silk Road and the Tang» 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 Road	det
10	Silk	Silk	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Road	compound
11	Road	Road	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the Silk Road				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

A network of overland and maritime routes, traversed by merchants of numerous peoples

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 network	det
2	network	network	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 traversed	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 routes	case
4	overland	overland	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 routes	amod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 maritime	cc
6	maritime	maritime	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 overland	conj
7	routes	route	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 network	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 traversed	punct
9	traversed	traverse	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 merchants	case
11	merchants	merchant	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 traversed	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 peoples	case
13	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 peoples	amod
14	peoples	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 merchants	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	traverse	participle · passive	merchants of numerous peoples	a network of overland routes					vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Co-Theme

Option 2

A canal linking Beijing with Rome

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 canal	det
2	canal	canal	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	linking	link	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 canal	acl
4	Beijing	Beijing	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 linking	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	6 Rome	case
6	Rome	Rome	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 linking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	link	gerund	a canal not said here	Beijing				with Rome	vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent beijing=Patient with rome=Co-Patient

Option 3

A route reserved exclusively for the trade in silk and forbidden to all other merchandise

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 route	det
2	route	route	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	reserved	reserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 route	acl
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 reserved	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 trade	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 trade	det
7	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reserved	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 silk	case
9	silk	silk	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 trade	nmod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 forbidden	cc
11	forbidden	forbid	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reserved	conj
12	to	to	ADP	_	15 merchandise	case
13	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	15 merchandise	det
14	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 merchandise	amod
15	merchandise	merchandise	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 forbidden	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reserve	participle		a route not said here				for the trade in silk; exclusively property	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for trade=Beneficiary
2	forbid	participle						to all other merchandise	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Causer

Option 4

A single paved highway constructed by the Tang

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 highway	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 highway	amod
3	paved	pave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 highway	amod
4	highway	highway	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	constructed	construct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 highway	acl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 Tang	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Tang	det
8	Tang	Tang	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 constructed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pave	participle							vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme
2	construct	participle		a single paved highway not said here				by the Tang	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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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