Exam question 1 · Rules, courts, police, taxes and armies through time

Identify the principal reason for the decline of trial by ordeal in medieval Europe after 1215.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, trial · What happens: identify, decline · To what, where: principal reason, medieval Europe

This is exam question 1 of lesson 68 «Rules, courts, police, taxes and armies through time» 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 decline	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 decline	det
7	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reason	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 trial	case
9	trial	trial	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 decline	nmod
10	by	by	ADP	_	11 ordeal	case
11	ordeal	ordeal	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 Europe	case
13	medieval	medieval	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 Europe	amod
14	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
15	after	after	ADP	_	16 1215	case
16	1215	1215	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	1 Identify	obl
17	.	.	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		medieval Europe	after 1215	for the decline of trial; by ordeal	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	decline		trial						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

Parliament abolished all courts of law in the kingdom

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Parliament	Parliament	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 abolished	nsubj
2	abolished	abolish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 courts	det
4	courts	court	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 abolished	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 law	case
6	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 courts	nmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 kingdom	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 kingdom	det
9	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 abolished	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abolish	past	Parliament	all courts of law		the kingdom			vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent court=Theme

Option 2

Juries were prohibited by a decree of the king

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Juries	jury	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 decree	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 decree	det
6	decree	decree	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 king	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 king	det
9	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 decree	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	past · passive	a decree of the king	Juries					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme
2	decree		the king						nom decree «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Trial by ordeal was proven always to be correct

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Trial	trial	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 proven	nsubj:pass
2	by	by	ADP	_	3 ordeal	case
3	ordeal	ordeal	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Trial	nmod
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 proven	aux:pass
5	proven	prove	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 proven	advmod
7	to	to	PART	_	9 correct	mark
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 correct	cop
9	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 proven	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	prove	past · passive		Trial by ordeal	always property	vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	is	to-infinitive			correct property	tree rules
3	try		ordeal			nom trial «act transitive»: by=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The Church instructed priests to cease participation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Church	det
2	Church	Church	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 instructed	nsubj
3	instructed	instruct	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	priests	priest	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 instructed	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 cease	mark
6	cease	cease	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 instructed	xcomp
7	participation	participation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 cease	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	instruct speech: other	past	the Church	priests					vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: agent=Agent priest=Recipient clause=Topic
2	cease	to-infinitive	the Church not said here	participation					vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality participation=Eventuality

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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