Exam question 3 · Ancient Egypt: pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphs

Ascertain the principal reason for which later pharaohs were interred in concealed tombs within the Valley of the Kings.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, inter, conceal · To what, where: principal reason, pharaohs, concealed tombs

This is exam question 3 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 interred	obl
7	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	10 interred	advmod
8	pharaohs	pharaoh	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 interred	nsubj
9	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 interred	aux:pass
10	interred	inter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 tombs	case
12	concealed	conceal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 tombs	amod
13	tombs	tomb	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 interred	obl
14	within	within	ADP	_	16 Valley	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 Valley	det
16	Valley	Valley	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 interred	obl
17	of	of	ADP	_	19 Kings	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 Kings	det
19	Kings	King	PROPN	Number=Plur	16 Valley	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	inter	past · passive		pharaohs	concealed tombs	for the principal reason; within the Valley of the Kings; late property	tree rules
3	conceal	participle					vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=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

Pyramids had been prohibited by Rome

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pyramids	pyramid	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 prohibited	aux
3	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 prohibited	aux:pass
4	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 Rome	case
6	Rome	Rome	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 prohibited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	past · perfect · passive	Rome	Pyramids					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme

Option 2

The valley was situated upon the sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 valley	det
2	valley	valley	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 situated	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 situated	aux:pass
4	situated	situate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 sea	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 sea	det
7	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 situated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	situate	past · passive		the valley		the sea			vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon sea=Destination

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Pyramids were readily located by tomb robbers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pyramids	pyramid	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 located	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 located	aux:pass
3	readily	readily	ADV	_	4 located	advmod
4	located	locate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 robbers	case
6	tomb	tomb	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 robbers	compound
7	robbers	robber	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 located	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	locate	past · passive	tomb robbers	Pyramids				readily property	tree rules

Option 4

The pyramids were insufficiently tall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pyramids	det
2	pyramids	pyramid	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 tall	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 tall	cop
4	insufficiently	insufficiently	ADV	_	5 tall	advmod
5	tall	tall	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the pyramids					insufficiently, tall property	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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/6-ancient-egypt-pyramids-mummies-and-hieroglyphs/e3/