Exam question 4 · Games vs history: tech trees, barbarians, empty lands, won…

Ascertain the response most consistent with a judicious use of historical strategy games.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, use · To what, where: response, historical strategy games

This is exam question 4 of lesson 80 «Games vs history: tech trees, barbarians, empty lands, wonders and falls» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	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 Ascertain	obj
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 consistent	advmod
5	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	amod
6	with	with	ADP	_	9 use	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 use	det
8	judicious	judicious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 use	amod
9	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 consistent	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	13 games	case
11	historical	historical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 games	amod
12	strategy	strategy	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 games	compound
13	games	game	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 use	nmod
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the response					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Topic
2	use			historical strategy games					nom use «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

They should supersede all historical scholarship

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 supersede	nsubj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 supersede	aux
3	supersede	supersede	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 scholarship	det
5	historical	historical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 scholarship	amod
6	scholarship	scholarship	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 supersede	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	supersede	should	They	all historical scholarship					tree rules

Option 2

They constitute a complete and accurate record of the past

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 constitute	nsubj
2	constitute	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 record	det
4	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 record	amod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 accurate	cc
6	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 complete	conj
7	record	record	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitute	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 past	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 past	det
10	past	past	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 record	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	They	a complete record of the past					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme record=Pivot
2	record			the past					nom record «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

They possess no value whatsoever

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 possess	nsubj
2	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 value	det
4	value	value	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 possess	obj
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 possess	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	They	no value				whatsoever property	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot value=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They may serve as an introduction, to be verified against books and knowledgeable persons

The tree, 14 words

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 serve	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 serve	aux
3	serve	serve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	as	as	ADP	_	6 introduction	case
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 introduction	det
6	introduction	introduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 serve	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 verified	punct
8	to	to	PART	_	10 verified	mark
9	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	10 verified	aux:pass
10	verified	verify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 serve	conj
11	against	against	ADP	_	12 books	case
12	books	book	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 verified	obl
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 persons	cc
14	knowledgeable	knowledgeable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 persons	amod
15	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 books	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	may	They					as a introduction	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as introduction=Attribute
2	verify	to-infinitive · passive	They not said here					against books and knowledgeable persons	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»

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/80-games-vs-history-tech-trees-barbarians-empty-lands-wonders-and-falls/e4/