Exam question 4 · Ancient India: the Indus cities and the first kingdoms

Ascertain the explanation of the decline of the Indus cities which is at present most widely accepted.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Indus cities, decline · What happens: ascertain, be, accept, explain, decline · To what, where: explanation

This is exam question 4 of lesson 7 «Ancient India: the Indus cities and the first kingdoms» 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 explanation	det
3	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 decline	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 decline	det
6	decline	decline	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 explanation	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 cities	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 cities	det
9	Indus	Indus	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 cities	compound
10	cities	city	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 decline	nmod
11	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 present	nsubj
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 present	cop
13	at	at	ADP	_	14 present	case
14	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 cities	acl:relcl
15	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	16 widely	advmod
16	widely	widely	ADV	_	17 accepted	advmod
17	accepted	accept	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 present	advcl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the explanation of the decline of the Indus cities		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent explanation=Topic
2	is	present	the Indus cities		present property	tree rules
3	accept	participle	the Indus cities not said here		widely property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	explain		the decline of the Indus cities			nom explanation «communication intransitive»: of=agent
5	decline		the Indus cities			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

A decree of the Persian king

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 decree	det
2	decree	decree	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 king	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 king	det
5	Persian	persian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 king	amod
6	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 decree	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	decree		the Persian king						nom decree «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

A sudden destruction by invaders in a single day

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 destruction	det
2	sudden	sudden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 destruction	amod
3	destruction	destruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 invaders	case
5	invaders	invader	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 destruction	nmod
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 day	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 day	det
8	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 day	amod
9	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 invaders	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	destroy		invaders in a single day						nom destruction «act transitive»: by=agent

Option 3

A volcanic eruption

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 eruption	det
2	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 eruption	amod
3	eruption	eruption	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

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

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A gradual abandonment attributable to changing rivers and a drier climate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 abandonment	det
2	gradual	gradual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 abandonment	amod
3	abandonment	abandonment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	attributable	attributable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 abandonment	amod
5	to	to	SCONJ	_	6 changing	mark
6	changing	change	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 attributable	advcl
7	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 changing	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 climate	cc
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 climate	det
10	drier	dry	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	11 climate	amod
11	climate	climate	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 abandonment	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	gerund		rivers					vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent river=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/7-ancient-india-the-indus-cities-and-the-first-kingdoms/e4/