Exam question 4 · China: 1911, 1949 and Mao

Ascertain the principal feature of the policy commenced by Deng Xiaoping in 1978.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, commence, feature · To what, where: principal feature, policy, 1978

This is exam question 4 of lesson 58 «China: 1911, 1949 and Mao» 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 feature	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 feature	amod
4	feature	feature	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 policy	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 policy	det
7	policy	policy	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 feature	nmod
8	commenced	commence	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 policy	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	10 Deng	case
10	Deng	Deng	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 commenced	obl:agent
11	Xiaoping	Xiaoping	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Deng	flat
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 1978	case
13	1978	1978	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	8 commenced	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal feature of the policy		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feature=Topic
2	commence	participle		the policy not said here	1978	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
3	feature			the policy		nom feature «cognition 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 return of Hong Kong in 1978

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 return	det
2	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 Hong	case
4	Hong	Hong	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 return	nmod
5	Kong	Kong	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 Hong	flat
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 1978	case
7	1978	1978	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	2 return	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	return		Hong						nom return «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The abolition of all trade with the West

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 abolition	det
2	abolition	abolition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 trade	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 trade	det
5	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 abolition	nmod
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 West	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 West	det
8	West	West	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 trade	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abolish			all trade with the West					nom abolition «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The opening of China to markets and foreign investment

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 opening	det
2	opening	opening	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 China	case
4	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 opening	nmod
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 markets	case
6	markets	market	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 opening	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 investment	cc
8	foreign	foreign	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 investment	amod
9	investment	investment	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 markets	conj

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

Option 4

The closure of all schools

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 closure	det
2	closure	closure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 schools	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 schools	det
5	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 closure	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	close		all schools						nom closure «act intransitive»: of=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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