Exam question 4 · China: the Qing and the Opium Wars

Ascertain the circumstances in which Puyi ascended the throne and subsequently relinquished it.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Puyi · What happens: ascertain, ascend, relinquish · To what, where: circumstances, throne

This is exam question 4 of lesson 57 «China: the Qing and the Opium Wars» 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 circumstances	det
3	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascertain	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 ascended	obl
6	Puyi	Puyi	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 ascended	nsubj
7	ascended	ascend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 circumstances	acl:relcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 throne	det
9	throne	throne	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 ascended	obj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 relinquished	cc
11	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	12 relinquished	advmod
12	relinquished	relinquish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 ascended	conj
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 relinquished	obj
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the circumstances			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent circumstance=Topic
2	ascend	past	Puyi	the throne	the circumstances		vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme throne=Trajectory
3	relinquish	past	Puyi not said here	throne		subsequently property	vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent it=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

Enthroned in 1644 by the Manchus; abdicated in 1700

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Enthroned	enthrone	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 1644	case
3	1644	1644	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	1 Enthroned	obl
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 Manchus	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Manchus	det
6	Manchus	Manchu	PROPN	Number=Plur	1 Enthroned	obl:agent
7	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 abdicated	punct
8	abdicated	abdicate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Enthroned	conj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 1700	case
10	1700	1700	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	8 abdicated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enthrone	participle				1644			tree rules
2	abdicate	participle				1700			vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Enthroned in 1949; abdicated in 1997

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Enthroned	enthrone	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 1949	case
3	1949	1949	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	1 Enthroned	obl
4	;	;	PUNCT	_	5 abdicated	punct
5	abdicated	abdicate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Enthroned	conj
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 1997	case
7	1997	1997	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	5 abdicated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enthrone	participle				1949			tree rules
2	abdicate	participle				1997			vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Enthroned in 1908 at the age of two; abdicated in 1912

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Enthroned	enthrone	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 1908	case
3	1908	1908	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	1 Enthroned	obl
4	at	at	ADP	_	6 age	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 age	det
6	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 1908	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 two	case
8	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 age	nmod
9	;	;	PUNCT	_	10 abdicated	punct
10	abdicated	abdicate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Enthroned	conj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 1912	case
12	1912	1912	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	10 abdicated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enthrone	participle				1908 at the age of two			tree rules
2	abdicate	participle				1912			vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Enthroned at forty after the Boxer victory

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Enthroned	enthrone	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	at	at	ADP	_	3 forty	case
3	forty	forty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	1 Enthroned	obl
4	after	after	ADP	_	7 victory	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 victory	det
6	Boxer	Boxer	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 victory	compound
7	victory	victory	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Enthroned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enthrone	participle				forty	after the Boxer victory		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.

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