Exam question 2 · How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the origins of agriculture?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: origins

This is exam question 2 of lesson 61 «How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline» 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	10 origins	det
10	origins	origin	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 agriculture	case
12	agriculture	agriculture	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 origins	nmod
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the origins of agriculture				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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 · ✓ the right answer

Agriculture arose independently in several regions of the world

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Agriculture	agriculture	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 arose	nsubj
2	arose	arise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	independently	independently	ADV	_	2 arose	advmod
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 regions	case
5	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 regions	amod
6	regions	region	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 arose	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 world	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 world	det
9	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 regions	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	past	Agriculture			several regions of the world		independently property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in region=Location

Option 2

Agriculture preceded the earliest use of fire

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Agriculture	agriculture	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 preceded	nsubj
2	preceded	proceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 use	det
4	earliest	early	ADJ	Degree=Sup	5 use	amod
5	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 preceded	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 fire	case
7	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 use	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	proceed	past	Agriculture	the earliest use of fire					tree rules
2	use			fire					nom use «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Agriculture was introduced by the Roman Empire

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Agriculture	agriculture	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 introduced	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 introduced	aux:pass
3	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 Empire	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Empire	det
6	Roman	Roman	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Empire	compound
7	Empire	Empire	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 introduced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	past · passive	the Roman Empire	Agriculture					vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 4

Agriculture was devised in Mesopotamia and copied by all others

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Agriculture	agriculture	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 devised	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 devised	aux:pass
3	devised	devise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 Mesopotamia	case
5	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 devised	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 copied	cc
7	copied	copy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 devised	conj
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 others	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	10 others	det
10	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 copied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	devise	past · passive		Agriculture		Mesopotamia			vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
2	copy	participle						by all others	vn transcribe-25.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent by other=Destination

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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