Exam question 3 · Everyday inventions: pots, boats, wheels, horses, clocks a…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the earliest known pottery?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, know · To what, where: earliest known pottery

This is exam question 3 of lesson 62 «Everyday inventions: pots, boats, wheels, horses, clocks and glasses» 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	12 pottery	det
10	earliest	early	ADJ	Degree=Sup	12 pottery	amod
11	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 pottery	amod
12	pottery	pottery	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the earliest known pottery	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	know	participle			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

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

It was introduced together with railways in the nineteenth century

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	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	together	together	ADV	_	3 introduced	advmod
5	with	with	ADP	_	6 railways	case
6	railways	railway	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 introduced	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 century	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 century	det
9	nineteenth	nineteenth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 century	amod
10	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 introduced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	past · passive		It			century	with railways; together property	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with railway=Instrument

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It postdates the invention of the wheel by several thousand years

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 postdates	nsubj
2	postdates	postdate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 invention	det
4	invention	invention	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 postdates	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 wheel	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 wheel	det
7	wheel	wheel	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 invention	nmod
8	by	by	ADP	_	11 years	case
9	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 thousand	amod
10	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 years	nummod
11	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 postdates	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	postdate	present	It	the invention of the wheel			year		tree rules
2	invent			the wheel					nom invention «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

It was produced by Roman farmers approximately two thousand years ago for storing grain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 produced	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 produced	aux:pass
3	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 farmers	case
5	Roman	roman	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 farmers	amod
6	farmers	farmer	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 produced	obl:agent
7	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	9 thousand	advmod
8	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 thousand	compound
9	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 years	nummod
10	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 ago	obl:unmarked
11	ago	ago	ADV	_	3 produced	advmod
12	for	for	SCONJ	_	13 storing	mark
13	storing	store	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 produced	advcl
14	grain	grain	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 storing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	past · passive	Roman farmers	It				ago property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result
2	store	gerund	Roman farmers not said here	grain					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grain=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It was produced by hunter-gatherers in China approximately twenty thousand years ago

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 produced	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 produced	aux:pass
3	produced	produce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	7 gatherers	case
5	hunter	hunter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 gatherers	compound
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	5 hunter	punct
7	gatherers	gatherer	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 produced	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 China	case
9	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 gatherers	nmod
10	approximately	approximately	ADV	_	12 thousand	advmod
11	twenty	twenty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 thousand	compound
12	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	13 years	nummod
13	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 produced	obl:unmarked
14	ago	ago	ADV	_	13 years	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	produce	past · passive	hunter gatherers in China	It			year		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result

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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