Exam question 4 · Learning through the ages: schools, universities, librarie…

Identify the principal characteristic of the scientific method as practised by Ibn al-Haytham.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, practise · To what, where: principal characteristic

This is exam question 4 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 characteristic	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 characteristic	amod
4	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 method	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 method	det
7	scientific	scientific	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 method	amod
8	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 characteristic	nmod
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	10 practised	mark
10	practised	practise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Identify	parataxis
11	by	by	ADP	_	12 Ibn	case
12	Ibn	Ibn	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 practised	obl:agent
13	al	Al	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 Ibn	flat
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 Haytham	punct
15	Haytham	Haytham	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 Ibn	flat
16	.	.	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 characteristic of the scientific method					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent characteristic=Theme
2	practise	participle							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 · ← Mova's choice

The memorisation of a fixed list of facts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 memorisation	det
2	memorisation	memorisation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 list	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 list	det
5	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 list	amod
6	list	list	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 memorisation	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 facts	case
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 list	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	fix	participle		vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	memorise		a fixed list of facts	nom memorisation «cognition transitive»: of=patient
3	list		facts	nom list «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The prohibition of all questions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 prohibition	det
2	prohibition	prohibition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 questions	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 questions	det
5	questions	question	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 prohibition	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit			all questions					nom prohibition «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The testing of ideas by experiment and their revision

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 testing	det
2	testing	testing	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 ideas	case
4	ideas	idea	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 testing	nmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 experiment	case
6	experiment	experiment	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 testing	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 revision	cc
8	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 revision	nmod:poss
9	revision	revision	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 testing	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	test		experiment	ideas					nom testing «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent
2	revise		ideas = idea						nom revision «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

The acceptance of all ancient opinions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 acceptance	det
2	acceptance	acceptance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 opinions	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 opinions	det
5	ancient	ancient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 opinions	amod
6	opinions	opinion	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 acceptance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accept			all ancient opinions					nom acceptance «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.

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