Test 8 · ★★★ · Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our numbers
Ashoka asked people to respect all religions. Why would that matter in India?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Ashoka, that · What happens: ask, respect, matter · To what, where: people, religions, India
This is test 8 · ★★★ of lesson 8 «Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our numbers» of the history course of Mova's primary school. 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
Sentence 1: Ashoka asked people to respect all religions.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ashoka | Ashoka | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 asked | nsubj |
| 2 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 asked | iobj |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 respect | mark |
| 5 | respect | respect | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 asked | xcomp |
| 6 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 7 religions | det |
| 7 | religions | religion | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 respect | obj |
| 8 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 asked | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | past | Ashoka | people | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent people=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | respect not said to happen | to-infinitive | Ashoka not said here | all religions | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer religion=Stimulus |
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.
Sentence 2: Why would that matter in India?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 matter | advmod |
| 2 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 matter | aux |
| 3 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 4 matter | nsubj |
| 4 | matter | matter | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 India | case |
| 6 | India | India | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 matter | obl |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 matter | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | matter | would | that | India | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Only one temple existed
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Only | only | ADV | _ | 2 one | advmod |
| 2 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 3 temple | nummod |
| 3 | temple | temple | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 existed | nsubj |
| 4 | existed | exist | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | exist | past | one temple | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
India was home to many faiths and peoples
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | India | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 faiths | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 faiths | cop |
| 3 | home | home | ADV | _ | 6 faiths | advmod |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 faiths | case |
| 5 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 faiths | amod |
| 6 | faiths | faith | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 peoples | cc |
| 8 | peoples | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 faiths | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | India | to many faiths and peoples; home property | tree rules |
Option 3
Religions were banned in India
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Religions | religion | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 banned | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 banned | aux:pass |
| 3 | banned | ban | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 India | case |
| 5 | India | India | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 banned | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ban | past · passive | Religions | India | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
Option 4
Everyone in India had exactly the same faith already
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everyone | everyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 4 had | nsubj |
| 2 | in | in | ADP | _ | 3 India | case |
| 3 | India | India | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Everyone | nmod |
| 4 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | exactly | exactly | ADV | _ | 8 faith | advmod |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 faith | det |
| 7 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 faith | amod |
| 8 | faith | faith | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 had | obj |
| 9 | already | already | ADV | _ | 8 faith | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | past | Everyone | the same faith | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent faith=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers/t8/