Exam question 4 · Ancient China: dynasties, the First Emperor and the Great…

Ascertain the circumstances of the discovery of the Terracotta Army.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, discover · To what, where: circumstances, Terracotta Army

This is exam question 4 of lesson 9 «Ancient China: dynasties, the First Emperor and the Great Wall» 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 circumstances	det
3	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 discovery	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 discovery	det
6	discovery	discovery	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 circumstances	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 Army	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 Army	det
9	Terracotta	Terracotta	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Army	compound
10	Army	Army	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 discovery	nmod
11	.	.	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 circumstances of the discovery of the Terracotta Army					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent circumstance=Topic
2	discover			the Terracotta Army					nom discovery «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

It was excavated by Roman soldiers

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 excavated	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 excavated	aux:pass
3	excavated	excavate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 soldiers	case
5	Roman	roman	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 soldiers	amod
6	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 excavated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excavate	past · passive	Roman soldiers	It					vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent subject=Location

Option 2

It was described by Marco Polo in 1275 on his travels

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 described	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 described	aux:pass
3	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 Marco	case
5	Marco	Marco	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 described	obl:agent
6	Polo	Polo	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 Marco	flat
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 1275	case
8	1275	1275	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	3 described	obl
9	on	on	SCONJ	_	11 travels	mark
10	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 travels	nmod:poss
11	travels	travel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 described	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe	past · passive	Marco	It		1275			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	travel	present	Marco not said here						vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It was uncovered by farmers digging a well in 1974

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 uncovered	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 uncovered	aux:pass
3	uncovered	uncover	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 farmers	case
5	farmers	farmer	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 uncovered	obl:agent
6	digging	dig	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 farmers	acl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 well	det
8	well	well	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 digging	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 1974	case
10	1974	1974	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	6 digging	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	uncover	past · passive	farmers	It					tree rules
2	dig	gerund	farmers not said here	a well		1974			vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent well=Theme in 1974=Location

Option 4

It was found by sailors in the year 1500

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 found	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 found	aux:pass
3	found	find	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 sailors	case
5	sailors	sailor	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 found	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 year	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 year	det
8	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 found	obl
9	1500	1500	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	8 year	flat

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	find	past · passive	sailors	It			year		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic

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/9-ancient-china-dynasties-the-first-emperor-and-the-great-wall/e4/