Exam question 2 · Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our numbers

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the origin of the digits 0 to 9 employed at present.

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

This is exam question 2 of lesson 8 «Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our numbers» 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 origin	det
11	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 digits	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 digits	det
14	digits	digit	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 origin	nmod
15	0	0	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	14 digits	flat
16	to	to	ADP	_	17 9	case
17	9	9	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	15 0	nmod
18	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 digits	acl
19	at	at	ADP	_	20 present	case
20	present	present	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 employed	obl
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 origin of the digits			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus origin=Experiencer
4	employ	participle		the digits not said here	present		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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 · ✓ the right answer

They originated in India and were transmitted to Europe by Arab scholars

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 originated	nsubj
2	originated	originate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 India	case
4	India	India	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 originated	obl
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 transmitted	cc
6	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 transmitted	aux:pass
7	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 originated	conj
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 Europe	case
9	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 transmitted	obl
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 scholars	case
11	Arab	Arab	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 scholars	amod
12	scholars	scholar	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 transmitted	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	originate	past	They			India			vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	transmit	past · passive	Arab scholars		Europe				vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to europe=Destination

Option 2

They originated in Arabia without antecedents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 originated	nsubj
2	originated	originate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 Arabia	case
4	Arabia	Arabia	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 originated	obl
5	without	without	ADP	_	6 antecedents	case
6	antecedents	antecedent	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 originated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	originate	past	They			Arabia		without antecedents	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

They were devised in Europe in the twentieth century

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 devised	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 devised	aux:pass
3	devised	devise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 Europe	case
5	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 devised	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 century	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 century	det
8	twentieth	twentieth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 century	amod
9	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 devised	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	devise	past · passive		They		Europe	century		vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 4

They were devised by the Romans

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 devised	nsubj
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 devised	aux:pass
3	devised	devise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 Romans	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Romans	det
6	Romans	Roman	PROPN	Number=Plur	3 devised	obl:agent

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	devise	past · passive	the Romans	They					vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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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