Exam question 2 · When civilizations meet: conquest, colonies and freedom, s…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the conquest of the Aztec Empire?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: conquest

This is exam question 2 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	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 conquest	det
10	conquest	conquest	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 Empire	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 Empire	det
13	Aztec	Aztec	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 Empire	compound
14	Empire	Empire	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 conquest	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the conquest of the Aztec Empire				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

Cortés prevailed solely by means of a few hundred Spanish soldiers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cortés	Cortés	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 prevailed	nsubj
2	prevailed	prevail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 prevailed	advmod
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 means	case
5	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 prevailed	parataxis
6	of	of	ADP	_	11 soldiers	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 hundred	det
8	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 hundred	amod
9	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 soldiers	nummod
10	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 soldiers	amod
11	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 means	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevail	past	Cortés					solely property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	mean	present						of hundred Spanish soldiers	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The Aztec Empire surrendered without any resistance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 Empire	det
2	Aztec	Aztec	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 Empire	compound
3	Empire	Empire	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 surrendered	nsubj
4	surrendered	surrender	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	without	without	ADP	_	7 resistance	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 resistance	det
7	resistance	resistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 surrendered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	surrender	past	the Aztec Empire					without any resistance	vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Cortés relied upon numerous Indigenous allies, and smallpox gravely afflicted the Aztec capital

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cortés	Cortés	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 relied	nsubj
2	relied	rely	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	upon	upon	ADP	_	6 allies	case
4	numerous	numerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 allies	amod
5	Indigenous	indigenous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 allies	amod
6	allies	ally	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 relied	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 afflicted	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 afflicted	cc
9	smallpox	smallpox	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 afflicted	nsubj
10	gravely	gravely	ADV	_	11 afflicted	advmod
11	afflicted	afflict	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 relied	conj
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 capital	det
13	Aztec	Aztec	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 capital	compound
14	capital	capital	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 afflicted	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rely	past	Cortés					upon numerous Indigenous allies	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent
2	afflict	past	smallpox	the Aztec capital				gravely property	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus capital=Experiencer

Option 4

The conquest was accomplished by a French army

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 conquest	det
2	conquest	conquest	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 accomplished	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 accomplished	aux:pass
4	accomplished	accomplish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	8 army	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 army	det
7	French	French	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 army	amod
8	army	army	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 accomplished	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accomplish	past · passive	a French army	the conquest					vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Eventuality

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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