Exam question 1 · When civilizations meet: conquest, colonies and freedom, s…

Identify the principal reason for which the term «discovery» in respect of the voyage of Columbus is subject to question.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, term · What happens: identify, be, respect, voyage · To what, where: principal reason, voyage, Columbus

This is exam question 1 of lesson 76 «When civilizations meet: conquest, colonies and freedom, seen from both sides» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	20 subject	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 term	det
8	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 subject	nsubj
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 discovery	punct
10	discovery	discovery	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 term	appos
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 discovery	punct
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 respect	case
13	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 term	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 voyage	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 voyage	det
16	voyage	voyage	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 respect	nmod
17	of	of	ADP	_	18 Columbus	case
18	Columbus	Columbus	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 voyage	nmod
19	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	20 subject	cop
20	subject	subject	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	acl:relcl
21	to	to	ADP	_	22 question	case
22	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 subject	obl
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	is	present	the term in respect of the voyage of Columbus		for the principal reason; to question; subject property	tree rules
3	respect			the voyage of Columbus		nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient
4	voyage			Columbus		nom voyage «act 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 · ← Mova's choice

The Americas had previously been settled by the Roman Empire

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Americas	det
2	Americas	AMERICAS	PROPN	Number=Plur	6 settled	nsubj
3	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 settled	aux
4	previously	previously	ADV	_	6 settled	advmod
5	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	6 settled	aux:pass
6	settled	settle	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	by	by	ADP	_	10 Empire	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Empire	det
9	Roman	Roman	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Empire	compound
10	Empire	Empire	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 settled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	settle	past · perfect · passive	the Roman Empire	the Americas				previously property	vn odge-46-1 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme subject=Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The Americas were already inhabited by many millions of persons

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Americas	det
2	Americas	AMERICAS	PROPN	Number=Plur	5 inhabited	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 inhabited	aux:pass
4	already	already	ADV	_	5 inhabited	advmod
5	inhabited	inhabit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 millions	case
7	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 millions	amod
8	millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 inhabited	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 persons	case
10	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 millions	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inhabit	past · passive	many millions of persons	the Americas					tree rules

Option 3

Columbus did not undertake any voyage across the Atlantic

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Columbus	Columbus	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 undertake	nsubj
2	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 undertake	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 undertake	advmod
4	undertake	undertake	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 voyage	det
6	voyage	voyage	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 undertake	obj
7	across	across	ADP	_	9 Atlantic	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Atlantic	det
9	Atlantic	Atlantic	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 undertake	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not undertake	past · do-support	Columbus	any voyage		the Atlantic			vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent voyage=Eventuality

Option 4

The Americas were uninhabited until the twentieth century

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Americas	det
2	Americas	AMERICAS	PROPN	Number=Plur	4 uninhabited	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 uninhabited	cop
4	uninhabited	uninhabited	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	until	until	ADP	_	8 century	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 century	det
7	twentieth	twentieth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 century	amod
8	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 uninhabited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the Americas				century	uninhabited property	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.

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