Exam question 4 · Trade: why people swap, and the great trade routes
Ascertain the innovation introduced by Malcom McLean in 1956 that greatly reduced the cost of shipping.
Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, introduce, reduce, cost · To what, where: innovation, 1956, shipping
This is exam question 4 of lesson 70 «Trade: why people swap, and the great trade routes» 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 innovation | det |
| 3 | innovation | innovation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Ascertain | obj |
| 4 | introduced | introduce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 innovation | acl |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 7 McLean | case |
| 6 | Malcom | Malcom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 McLean | compound |
| 7 | McLean | McLean | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 introduced | obl |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 9 1956 | case |
| 9 | 1956 | 1956 | NUM | NumForm=Digit NumType=Card | 4 introduced | obl |
| 10 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 12 reduced | obj |
| 11 | greatly | greatly | ADV | _ | 12 reduced | advmod |
| 12 | reduced | reduce | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 innovation | acl:relcl |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 cost | det |
| 14 | cost | cost | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 reduced | obj |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 shipping | case |
| 16 | shipping | shipping | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 cost | nmod |
| 17 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Ascertain | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ascertain | imperative | you not said here | the innovation | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent innovation=Topic | ||||
| 2 | introduce | participle | the innovation not said here | 1956 | by Malcom McLean | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient | |||
| 3 | reduce | past | the innovation | greatly property | vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2 «NP V NP.patient NP.extent PP.initial_state PP.result»: agent=Causer that=Patient cost=Extent | ||||
| 4 | cost | shipping | nom cost «possession transitive»: of=patient |
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
The Fairtrade label
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 label | det |
| 2 | Fairtrade | Fairtrade | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 label | compound |
| 3 | label | label | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
The standard shipping container
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 container | det |
| 2 | standard | standard | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 container | amod |
| 3 | shipping | shipping | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 container | compound |
| 4 | container | container | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
The secret ballot for dock workers
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 ballot | det |
| 2 | secret | secret | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 ballot | amod |
| 3 | ballot | ballot | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 workers | case |
| 5 | dock | dock | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 workers | compound |
| 6 | workers | worker | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 ballot | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
The steam-powered cargo ship
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 ship | det |
| 2 | steam | steam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 powered | compound |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 2 steam | punct |
| 4 | powered | power | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 ship | amod |
| 5 | cargo | cargo | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 ship | compound |
| 6 | ship | ship | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | power | participle | 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes/e4/