Exam question 3 · China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages

Ascertain the principal reasons for the cessation of the Ming maritime expeditions after 1433.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, cease · To what, where: principal reasons, Ming maritime expeditions

This is exam question 3 of lesson 56 «China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages» 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 reasons	det
3	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reasons	compound
4	reasons	reason	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 cessation	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 cessation	det
7	cessation	cessation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reasons	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	12 expeditions	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 expeditions	det
10	Ming	Ming	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 expeditions	compound
11	maritime	maritime	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 expeditions	amod
12	expeditions	expedition	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 cessation	nmod
13	after	after	ADP	_	14 1433	case
14	1433	1433	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	12 expeditions	nmod
15	.	.	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 reasons				for the cessation of the Ming maritime expeditions after 1433	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition reason=Theme for cessation=Beneficiary
2	cease			the Ming maritime expeditions after 1433					nom cessation «event 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

Their expense, opposition at court and the priority of northern defence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 expense	nmod:poss
2	expense	expense	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 opposition	punct
4	opposition	opposition	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expense	conj
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 court	case
6	court	court	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 opposition	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 priority	cc
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 priority	det
9	priority	priority	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 expense	conj
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 defence	case
11	northern	northern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 defence	amod
12	defence	defence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 priority	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

The exhaustion of all lands to be discovered

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 exhaustion	det
2	exhaustion	exhaustion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 lands	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 lands	det
5	lands	land	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 exhaustion	nmod
6	to	to	PART	_	8 discovered	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 discovered	aux:pass
8	discovered	discover	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 exhaustion	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discover	to-infinitive · passive							vn discover-84-1 «NP V PP.topic S_ING»
2	exhaust			all lands					nom exhaustion «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

The death of every sailor at sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 death	det
2	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 sailor	case
4	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	5 sailor	det
5	sailor	sailor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 death	nmod
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 sea	case
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sailor	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	die		every sailor at sea						nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 4

The destruction of the entire fleet by the Portuguese navy in the Indian Ocean

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 destruction	det
2	destruction	destruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 fleet	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 fleet	det
5	entire	entire	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 fleet	amod
6	fleet	fleet	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 destruction	nmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	10 navy	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 navy	det
9	Portuguese	portuguese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 navy	amod
10	navy	navy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 destruction	nmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	14 Ocean	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Ocean	det
13	Indian	Indian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 Ocean	amod
14	Ocean	Ocean	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 navy	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	destroy		the Portuguese navy in the Indian Ocean	the entire fleet					nom destruction «act transitive»: of=patient by=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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