Exam question 1 · Ancient Egypt: pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphs

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the labour force employed in the construction of the pyramids of Giza?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, employ, construct · To what, where: labour force, construction, pyramids

This is exam question 1 of lesson 6 «Ancient Egypt: pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphs» 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 force	det
10	labour	labour	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 force	compound
11	force	force	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 force	acl
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 construction	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 construction	det
15	construction	construction	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 employed	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 pyramids	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 pyramids	det
18	pyramids	pyramid	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 construction	nmod
19	of	of	ADP	_	20 Giza	case
20	Giza	Giza	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 pyramids	nmod
21	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the labour force		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	employ	participle	the labour force not said here	the construction of the pyramids of Giza		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	construct		the pyramids of Giza			nom construction «act 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

Beings of extraterrestrial origin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Beings	being	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 origin	case
3	extraterrestrial	extraterrestrial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 origin	amod
4	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Beings	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	be		extraterrestrial origin						nom being «state intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

Enslaved captives from Rome

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Enslaved	enslave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 captives	amod
2	captives	captive	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 Rome	case
4	Rome	Rome	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 captives	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	enslave	participle							vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Remunerated workers and rotating agricultural labourers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Remunerated	remunerate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 workers	amod
2	workers	worker	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	and	and	CCONJ	_	4 rotating	cc
4	rotating	rotate	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 workers	conj
5	agricultural	agricultural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 labourers	amod
6	labourers	labourer	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 rotating	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remunerate	participle							vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent
2	rotate	gerund		agricultural labourers					vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location labourer=Theme

Option 4

Prisoners condemned for life

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 condemned	nsubj
2	condemned	condemn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	for	for	ADP	_	4 life	case
4	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 condemned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	condemn	past	Prisoners					for life	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent for life=Attribute

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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