Exam question 3 · From band to nation: families, tribes, kingdoms, empires a…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises many present-day borders in Africa?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: many day borders, Africa

This is exam question 3 of lesson 66 «From band to nation: families, tribes, kingdoms, empires and countries» 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	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 borders	amod
10	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 day	amod
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 present	punct
12	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 borders	compound
13	borders	border	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
14	in	in	ADP	_	15 Africa	case
15	Africa	Africa	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 borders	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		many day borders		Africa		of the following statements; accurately property	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

They follow the ancient walls and roads constructed by the Roman Empire across the continent

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 follow	nsubj
2	follow	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 walls	det
4	ancient	ancient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 walls	amod
5	walls	wall	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 follow	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 roads	cc
7	roads	road	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 walls	conj
8	constructed	construct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 walls	acl
9	by	by	ADP	_	12 Empire	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 Empire	det
11	Roman	Roman	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 Empire	compound
12	Empire	Empire	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 constructed	obl:agent
13	across	across	ADP	_	15 continent	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 continent	det
15	continent	continent	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 constructed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	present	They	the ancient walls and roads					vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wall=Theme
2	construct	participle		the ancient walls and roads not said here		the continent			vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

They were chosen by referendum in every village

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 chosen	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 chosen	aux:pass
3	chosen	choose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 referendum	case
5	referendum	referendum	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 chosen	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 village	case
7	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	8 village	det
8	village	village	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 chosen	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	choose	past · passive	referendum	They		every village			vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

They were frequently drawn by European powers following the conference of 1884 to 1885

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 drawn	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 drawn	aux:pass
3	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	4 drawn	advmod
4	drawn	draw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 powers	case
6	European	European	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 powers	amod
7	powers	power	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 drawn	obl
8	following	follow	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 conference	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 conference	det
10	conference	conference	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 drawn	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 1884	case
12	1884	1884	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	10 conference	nmod
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 1885	case
14	1885	1885	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	12 1884	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	past · passive	European powers	They				follow the conference of 1884 to 1885; frequently property	vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

They have remained unaltered since the Stone Age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 unaltered	nsubj
2	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 unaltered	aux
3	remained	remain	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 unaltered	aux:pass
4	unaltered	unalter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	since	since	ADP	_	8 Age	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Age	det
7	Stone	Stone	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 Age	compound
8	Age	Age	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 unaltered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	unalter	present · perfect · passive		They			since the Stone Age		tree rules

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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