Exam question 3 · China: the Song and the Mongols

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the present scholarly view of Marco Polo's account?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: Marco · What happens: follow, characteris, view, account · To what, where: present scholarly view, account

This is exam question 3 of lesson 55 «China: the Song and the Mongols» 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	12 view	det
10	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 view	amod
11	scholarly	scholarly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 view	amod
12	view	view	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	17 account	case
14	Marco	Marco	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 account	nmod:poss
15	Polo	Polo	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 Marco	flat
16	's	's	PART	_	14 Marco	case
17	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 view	nmod
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the present scholarly view of Marco's account	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	view			Marco's account		nom view «cognition transitive»: of=patient
4	account		Marco			nom account «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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

Most historians accept that he went, his details corresponding to Chinese records

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	2 historians	amod
2	historians	historian	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 accept	nsubj
3	accept	accept	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 went	mark
5	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 went	nsubj
6	went	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 accept	ccomp
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 details	punct
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 details	nmod:poss
9	details	detail	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 accept	obl
10	corresponding	correspond	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 details	acl
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 records	case
12	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 records	amod
13	records	record	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 corresponding	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	accept	present	Most historians	his details		vn accept-77.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	go	past	he			vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	correspond	gerund	his details not said here		to Chinese records	vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	detail		his = he			nom detail «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

It is universally held to be a 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 held	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 held	aux:pass
3	universally	universally	ADV	_	4 held	advmod
4	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	8 fabrication	mark
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 fabrication	cop
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 fabrication	det
8	fabrication	fabrication	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 held	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	present · passive		It				universally property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	is a	to-infinitive		a fabrication					tree rules

Option 3

It is known to describe Japan rather than China

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 known	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 known	aux:pass
3	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 describe	mark
5	describe	describe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 known	xcomp
6	Japan	Japan	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 describe	obj
7	rather	rather	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	9 China	cc
8	than	than	ADP	_	7 rather	fixed
9	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Japan	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	know	present · passive		It					tree rules
2	describe	to-infinitive		Japan rather China					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent japan=Theme

Option 4

It was composed in Chinese by Kublai Khan

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 composed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 composed	aux:pass
3	composed	compose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 Chinese	case
5	Chinese	Chinese	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 composed	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 Kublai	case
7	Kublai	Kublai	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 composed	obl:agent
8	Khan	Khan	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Kublai	flat

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compose	past · passive	Kublai	It		Chinese			vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result

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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