Exam question 2 · Learning through the ages: schools, universities, librarie…

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the decline of the Library of Alexandria.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, established facts, Library · What happens: select, establish, concern, decline · To what, where: response, decline

This is exam question 2 of lesson 64 «Learning through the ages: schools, universities, libraries and science» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 decline	det
11	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 Library	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Library	det
14	Library	Library	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 decline	nmod
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 Alexandria	case
16	Alexandria	Alexandria	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 Library	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the decline of the Library of Alexandria		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus decline=Experiencer
4	decline		the Library of Alexandria			nom decline «process intransitive»: of=agent

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 has remained in continuous operation since its foundation

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 remained	nsubj:pass
2	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 remained	aux
3	remained	remain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 operation	case
5	continuous	continuous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 operation	amod
6	operation	operation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remained	obl
7	since	since	ADP	_	9 foundation	case
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 foundation	nmod:poss
9	foundation	foundation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remained	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remain	present · perfect · passive		It		continuous operation	since operation's foundation		vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute

Option 2

It was destroyed entirely in a single night, together with every scroll it held

The tree, 14 words

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 destroyed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 destroyed	aux:pass
3	destroyed	destroy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	3 destroyed	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 night	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 night	det
7	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 night	amod
8	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 destroyed	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 together	punct
10	together	together	ADV	_	3 destroyed	advmod
11	with	with	ADP	_	13 scroll	case
12	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	13 scroll	det
13	scroll	scroll	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 destroyed	obl
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 held	nsubj
15	held	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 scroll	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	destroy	past · passive		It			night	with every scroll; entirely, together property	vn destroy-44 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with scroll=Instrument
2	hold	past	scroll	every scroll not said here					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scroll=Theme

Option 3

It was never constructed and is known solely from legend

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 constructed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 constructed	aux:pass
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	4 constructed	advmod
4	constructed	construct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 known	cc
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 known	aux:pass
7	known	know	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 constructed	conj
8	solely	solely	ADV	_	7 known	advmod
9	from	from	ADP	_	10 legend	case
10	legend	legend	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 known	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not construct	past · passive		It					vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	know	present · passive				legend		solely property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It suffered damage by fire and probably declined gradually over centuries

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 suffered	nsubj
2	suffered	suffer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	damage	damage	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 suffered	obj
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 fire	case
5	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 suffered	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 declined	cc
7	probably	probably	ADV	_	8 declined	advmod
8	declined	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 suffered	conj
9	gradually	gradually	ADV	_	8 declined	advmod
10	over	over	ADP	_	11 centuries	case
11	centuries	century	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 declined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suffer	past	It	damage				by fire	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer damage=Stimulus
2	decline	past					century	gradually, probably property	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute

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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