Test 1 · ★★★ · China: Mei's exaggerations and everyday China

Mei says China invented everything first. What would the teacher kindly say?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Mei, China, teacher · What happens: say, invent · To what, where: everything · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 1 · ★★★ of lesson 60 «China: Mei's exaggerations and everyday China» of the history course of Mova's primary school. 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

Sentence 1: Mei says China invented everything first.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mei	Mei	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 invented	nsubj
4	invented	invent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 says	ccomp
5	everything	everything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	4 invented	obj
6	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	4 invented	advmod
7	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	Mei						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	invent	past	China	everything				first property	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent everything=Result

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.

Sentence 2: What would the teacher kindly say?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	6 say	obj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 say	aux
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 teacher	det
4	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 say	nsubj
5	kindly	kindly	ADV	_	6 say	advmod
6	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 say	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	would	the teacher					kindly property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic

The options

Option 1

Correct: every invention in history, from paper to the steam engine, is Chinese

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 invention	amod
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	4 invention	punct
3	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	4 invention	det
4	invention	invention	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 Chinese	nsubj
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 history	case
6	history	history	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 invention	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 paper	punct
8	from	from	ADP	_	9 paper	case
9	paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 invention	conj
10	to	to	ADP	_	13 engine	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 engine	det
12	steam	steam	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 engine	compound
13	engine	engine	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 paper	nmod
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 invention	punct
15	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 Chinese	cop
16	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	every Correct invention in history and paper to the steam engine					chinese property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

China invented nothing; paper, silk and the compass all came from Europe

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 invented	nsubj
2	invented	invent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	2 invented	obj
4	;	;	PUNCT	_	5 paper	punct
5	paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 invented	parataxis
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 silk	punct
7	silk	silk	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 paper	conj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 compass	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 compass	det
10	compass	compass	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 paper	conj
11	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	12 came	advmod
12	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 invented	advcl
13	from	from	ADP	_	14 Europe	case
14	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 came	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invent	past	China	nothing					vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Result
2	come	past	China not said here			Europe			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from europe=Initial_Location

Option 3

Only gunpowder is Chinese; paper and the compass came from India

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Only	only	ADV	_	2 gunpowder	advmod
2	gunpowder	gunpowder	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 Chinese	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 Chinese	cop
4	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	;	;	PUNCT	_	10 came	punct
6	paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 came	nsubj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 compass	cc
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 compass	det
9	compass	compass	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 paper	conj
10	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 Chinese	conj
11	from	from	ADP	_	12 India	case
12	India	India	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 came	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	gunpowder					chinese property	tree rules
2	come	past	paper and the compass			India			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from india=Initial_Location

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Many great things, yes, but zero, the alphabet and the steam engine came from elsewhere

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 things	amod
2	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 things	amod
3	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 came	nsubj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 things	punct
5	yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	3 things	discourse
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 came	punct
7	but	but	CCONJ	_	16 came	cc
8	zero	zero	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	16 came	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 alphabet	punct
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 alphabet	det
11	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 came	nsubj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 engine	cc
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 engine	det
14	steam	steam	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 engine	compound
15	engine	engine	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 alphabet	conj
16	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
17	from	from	ADP	_	18 elsewhere	case
18	elsewhere	elsewhere	ADV	_	16 came	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	come	past	Many great things	zero					vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from elsewhere=Initial_Location

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/60-china-mei-s-exaggerations-and-everyday-china/t1/