Exam question 3 · Why some places grew rich

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the thesis advanced in «Guns, Germs and Steel».

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, advance · To what, where: response, thesis, Guns

This is exam question 3 of lesson 72 «Why some places grew rich» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 thesis	det
11	thesis	thesis	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	advanced	advance	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 thesis	acl
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 Guns	case
14	«	«	PUNCT	_	15 Guns	punct
15	Guns	Gun	PROPN	Number=Plur	12 advanced	obl
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 Germs	punct
17	Germs	Germ	PROPN	Number=Plur	15 Guns	conj
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 Steel	cc
19	Steel	Steel	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 Guns	conj
20	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 thesis	punct
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the thesis			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus thesis=Experiencer
4	advance	participle		the thesis not said here	Guns and Germs and Steel		vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice

It is accepted without reservation by all historians and has never been seriously disputed by any scholar

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 accepted	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 accepted	aux:pass
3	accepted	accept	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	without	without	ADP	_	5 reservation	case
5	reservation	reservation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 accepted	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 historians	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 historians	det
8	historians	historian	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 accepted	obl:agent
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 disputed	cc
10	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 disputed	aux
11	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	14 disputed	advmod
12	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	14 disputed	aux:pass
13	seriously	seriously	ADV	_	14 disputed	advmod
14	disputed	dispute	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 accepted	conj
15	by	by	ADP	_	17 scholar	case
16	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	17 scholar	det
17	scholar	scholar	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 disputed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accept	present · passive	all historians	It				without reservation	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	not dispute	present · perfect · passive	any scholar					seriously property	vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It denies that geography has any influence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denies	nsubj
2	denies	deny	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 has	mark
4	geography	geography	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 has	nsubj
5	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 denies	advcl
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 influence	det
7	influence	influence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 has	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deny	present	It						vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	have	present	geography	any influence					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent influence=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It ascribes early advantages to geography, plants and animals, and is contested by many historians

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 ascribes	nsubj
2	ascribes	ascribe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	early	early	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 advantages	amod
4	advantages	advantage	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 ascribes	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 geography	case
6	geography	geography	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ascribes	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 plants	punct
8	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 geography	conj
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 animals	cc
10	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 plants	conj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 contested	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 contested	cc
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 contested	aux:pass
14	contested	contest	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 ascribes	parataxis
15	by	by	ADP	_	17 historians	case
16	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 historians	amod
17	historians	historian	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 contested	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascribe	present	It	early advantages				to geography and plants and animals	tree rules
2	contest	present · passive	many historians						tree rules

Option 4

It ascribes wealth solely to the decisions of monarchs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 ascribes	nsubj
2	ascribes	ascribe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	wealth	wealth	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ascribes	obj
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 ascribes	advmod
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 decisions	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 decisions	det
7	decisions	decision	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 ascribes	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 monarchs	case
9	monarchs	monarch	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 decisions	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascribe	present	It	wealth				to the decisions of monarchs; solely property	tree rules
2	decide			monarchs					nom decision «act 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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