Exam question 4 · Writing, laws and money: how strangers learned to trust ea…

Ascertain the manner in which the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace was preserved.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, preserve · To what, where: manner, Haudenosaunee Great Law

This is exam question 4 of lesson 63 «Writing, laws and money: how strangers learned to trust each other» 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	3 manner	det
3	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 preserved	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Law	det
7	Haudenosaunee	Haudenosaunee	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Law	compound
8	Great	Great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 Law	amod
9	Law	Law	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 preserved	nsubj:pass
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 Peace	case
11	Peace	Peace	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Law	nmod
12	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 preserved	aux:pass
13	preserved	preserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 manner	acl:relcl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the manner					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent manner=Topic
2	preserve	past · passive		the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace		the manner			vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary

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

By a carved stone in Babylon

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	4 stone	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 stone	det
3	carved	carve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 stone	amod
4	stone	stone	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 Babylon	case
6	Babylon	Babylon	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 stone	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carve	participle							vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

By printed books kept in Paris and London

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 books	case
2	printed	print	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 books	amod
3	books	book	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 books	acl
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 Paris	case
6	Paris	Paris	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 kept	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 London	cc
8	London	London	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Paris	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	print	participle							vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	keep	participle		printed books not said here		Paris and London			vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in paris=Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

By memory, oratory and wampum belts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	2 memory	case
2	memory	memory	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 oratory	punct
4	oratory	oratory	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 memory	conj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 belts	cc
6	wampum	wampum	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 belts	compound
7	belts	belt	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 memory	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

It was never preserved in any form

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	4 preserved	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 preserved	aux:pass
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	4 preserved	advmod
4	preserved	preserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 form	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 form	det
7	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 preserved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not preserve	past · passive		It		any form			vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary

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/63-writing-laws-and-money-how-strangers-learned-to-trust-each-other/e4/