Exam question 4 · Everyday inventions: pots, boats, wheels, horses, clocks a…

Identify the principal reason for the adoption of a single national time in Britain during the 1840s.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, adopt · To what, where: principal reason, single national time

This is exam question 4 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	Identify	identify	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 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 adoption	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 adoption	det
7	adoption	adoption	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	12 time	case
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 time	det
10	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 time	amod
11	national	national	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 time	amod
12	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 adoption	nmod
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 Britain	case
14	Britain	Britain	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 time	nmod
15	during	during	ADP	_	17 1840s	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 1840s	det
17	1840s	1840	NOUN	Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card	1 Identify	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			during the 1840s	for the adoption of a single national time in Britain	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	adopt			a single national time in Britain					nom adoption «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

A decree of the Roman Senate preserved in law

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 decree	det
2	decree	decree	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 preserved	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 Senate	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Senate	det
5	Roman	Roman	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Senate	compound
6	Senate	Senate	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 decree	nmod
7	preserved	preserve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 law	case
9	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 preserved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	preserve	past	a decree of the Roman Senate			law			vn defend-72.3 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	decree		the Roman Senate						nom decree «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The introduction of eyeglasses into the schools

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 introduction	det
2	introduction	introduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 eyeglasses	case
4	eyeglasses	eyeglass	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 introduction	nmod
5	into	into	ADP	_	7 schools	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 schools	det
7	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 introduction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce			eyeglasses		the schools			nom introduction «act transitive»: of=patient into=place

Option 3

The invention of television broadcasting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 invention	det
2	invention	invention	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 broadcasting	case
4	television	television	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 broadcasting	compound
5	broadcasting	broadcasting	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 invention	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invent			television broadcasting					nom invention «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The requirements of railway timetables

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 requirements	det
2	requirements	requirement	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 timetables	case
4	railway	railway	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 timetables	compound
5	timetables	timetable	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 requirements	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require			railway timetables					nom requirement «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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/62-everyday-inventions-pots-boats-wheels-horses-clocks-and-glasses/e4/