Exam question 4 · Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and o…

Ascertain the reason for which certain capitals, such as Brasília and Canberra, were established anew.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, establish · To what, where: reason, certain capitals

This is exam question 4 of lesson 74 «Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and of today» 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 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 established	obl
6	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 capitals	amod
7	capitals	capital	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 established	nsubj:pass
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 Brasília	punct
9	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	11 Brasília	case
10	as	as	ADP	_	9 such	fixed
11	Brasília	Brasília	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 capitals	nmod
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 Canberra	cc
13	Canberra	Canberra	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Brasília	conj
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 capitals	punct
15	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 established	aux:pass
16	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
17	anew	anew	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 established	xcomp
18	.	.	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 reason					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	establish	past · passive		certain capitals such Brasília and Canberra				for the reason; anew property	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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

Because the former capitals had been submerged by the sea

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	SCONJ	_	7 submerged	mark
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 capitals	det
3	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 capitals	amod
4	capitals	capital	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 submerged	nsubj:pass
5	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 submerged	aux
6	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 submerged	aux:pass
7	submerged	submerge	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 sea	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 sea	det
10	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 submerged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	submerge	past · perfect · passive	the sea	the former capitals					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 2

Because no other cities existed in those states

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	SCONJ	_	5 existed	mark
2	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 cities	det
3	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 cities	amod
4	cities	city	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 existed	nsubj
5	existed	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 states	case
7	those	that	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	8 states	det
8	states	state	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 existed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exist	past	no other cities			that states			vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in state=Location

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

To be impartial as between the regions of the state

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	3 impartial	mark
2	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	3 impartial	cop
3	impartial	impartial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	as	as	ADP	_	7 regions	case
5	between	between	ADP	_	7 regions	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 regions	det
7	regions	region	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 impartial	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 state	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 state	det
10	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 regions	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	to-infinitive						as the regions of the state; impartial property	tree rules

Option 4

To conceal the government from foreign visitors

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 conceal	mark
2	conceal	conceal	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 government	det
4	government	government	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conceal	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 visitors	case
6	foreign	foreign	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 visitors	amod
7	visitors	visitor	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 conceal	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	to-infinitive		the government				from foreign visitors	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent government=Patient from visitor=Beneficiary

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/74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today/e4/