Exam question 4 · Toad's Edwardian England: early motor cars, caravans, stea…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises wash day before household washing machines?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, wash

This is exam question 4 of lesson 83 «Toad's Edwardian England: early motor cars, caravans, steam trains, wash day and gold sovereigns» 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	9 wash	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	9 wash	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	9 wash	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 wash	nsubj
9	wash	wash	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 wash	obl:unmarked
11	before	before	ADP	_	14 machines	case
12	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 washing	compound
13	washing	washing	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 machines	compound
14	machines	machine	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 wash	obl
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 wash	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	wash	present					before washing machines; day	of the following statements; accurately property	vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It occupied most of a day with boiling, scrubbing, mangling and ironing by hand

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 occupied	nsubj
2	occupied	occupy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	2 occupied	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 day	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 day	det
6	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 most	nmod
7	with	with	ADP	_	8 boiling	case
8	boiling	boiling	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occupied	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 scrubbing	punct
10	scrubbing	scrub	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 occupied	advcl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 mangling	punct
12	mangling	mangle	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 scrubbing	conj
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 ironing	cc
14	ironing	iron	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 scrubbing	conj
15	by	by	ADP	_	16 hand	case
16	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 ironing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	occupy	past	It	most of a day	with boiling	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus most=Experiencer
2	scrub	gerund				vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent
3	mangle	gerund				vn carve-21.2-3 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient
4	iron	gerund			by hand	vn wipe_instr-10.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

It required no water whatsoever, the clothes being brushed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 required	nsubj
2	required	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 water	det
4	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 required	obj
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 required	advmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 brushed	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 clothes	det
8	clothes	clothes	NOUN	Number=Ptan	10 brushed	nsubj:pass
9	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 brushed	aux:pass
10	brushed	brush	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 required	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	past	It	no water				whatsoever property	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme water=Precondition
2	brush	gerund · passive		the clothes					vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme

Option 3

It was performed only by machines in great factories in the towns

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 performed	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 performed	aux:pass
3	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	3 performed	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 machines	case
6	machines	machine	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 performed	obl:agent
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 factories	case
8	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 factories	amod
9	factories	factory	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 performed	obl
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 towns	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 towns	det
12	towns	town	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 factories	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perform	past · passive	machines	It		great factories in the towns			vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 4

It occupied ten minutes once a month, as clothes were seldom changed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 occupied	nsubj
2	occupied	occupy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	ten	ten	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 minutes	nummod
4	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 once	obl:unmarked
5	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	2 occupied	advmod
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 month	det
7	month	month	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occupied	obl:unmarked
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 changed	punct
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	13 changed	mark
10	clothes	clothes	NOUN	Number=Ptan	13 changed	nsubj:pass
11	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 changed	aux:pass
12	seldom	seldom	ADV	_	13 changed	advmod
13	changed	change	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 occupied	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occupy	past	It				month	once property	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP-PRO-ARB»: agent=Stimulus
2	change	past · passive		clothes				seldom property	vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/83-toad-s-edwardian-england-early-motor-cars-caravans-steam-trains-wash-day-and-gold-sovereigns/e4/