Exam question 2 · Ideas on the move: numbers, paper, letters, chess and news

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the dissemination of paper from China?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, disseminate · To what, where: dissemination, China, paper

This is exam question 2 of lesson 75 «Ideas on the move: numbers, paper, letters, chess and news» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 dissemination	det
10	dissemination	dissemination	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 paper	case
12	paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 dissemination	nmod
13	from	from	ADP	_	14 China	case
14	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the dissemination of paper	China	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	disseminate		paper			nom dissemination «communication 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

It occurred within a single year by decree of the Chinese emperor

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 occurred	nsubj
2	occurred	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	within	within	ADP	_	6 year	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 year	det
5	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 year	amod
6	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occurred	obl
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 decree	case
8	decree	decree	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occurred	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	12 emperor	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 emperor	det
11	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 emperor	amod
12	emperor	emperor	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 decree	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	past	It				year	by decree of the Chinese emperor	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by decree=Location
2	decree		the Chinese emperor						nom decree «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Paper never left the territory of China

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 left	nsubj
2	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	3 left	advmod
3	left	leave	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 territory	det
5	territory	territory	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 left	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 China	case
7	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 territory	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not leave	past	Paper	the territory of China					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent territory=Theme

Option 3

Paper was invented independently in Spain before China

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 invented	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 invented	aux:pass
3	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	independently	independently	ADV	_	3 invented	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 Spain	case
6	Spain	Spain	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 invented	obl
7	before	before	ADP	_	8 China	case
8	China	China	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 invented	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	invent	past · passive		Paper		Spain	before China	independently property	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It proceeded gradually, reaching Spain in the twelfth century

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 proceeded	nsubj
2	proceeded	proceed	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	gradually	gradually	ADV	_	2 proceeded	advmod
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 reaching	punct
5	reaching	reach	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 proceeded	advcl
6	Spain	Spain	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 reaching	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 century	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 century	det
9	twelfth	twelfth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 century	amod
10	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 reaching	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	proceed	past	It					gradually property	vn begin-55.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent
2	reach	gerund		Spain			century		vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent spain=Theme

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/75-ideas-on-the-move-numbers-paper-letters-chess-and-news/e2/