Exam question 1 · Where English came from

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the origins of the English language?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: origins

This is exam question 1 of lesson 22 «Where English came from» of the language 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	8 characterises	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	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 origins	det
10	origins	origin	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 language	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 language	det
13	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 language	amod
14	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 origins	nmod
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	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	characteris	present		the origins of the English language				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

It was introduced by the Vikings in the eleventh century

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 introduced	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 introduced	aux:pass
3	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 Vikings	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Vikings	det
6	Vikings	Viking	PROPN	Number=Plur	3 introduced	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 century	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 century	det
9	eleventh	eleventh	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	10 century	amod
10	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 introduced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	introduce	past · passive	the Vikings	It			century		vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient

Option 2

It derives directly and solely from Latin as spoken by the Roman garrisons stationed in Britain

The tree, 16 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 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	directly	directly	ADV	_	2 derives	advmod
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 solely	cc
5	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 directly	conj
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 Latin	case
7	Latin	Latin	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl
8	as	as	SCONJ	_	9 spoken	mark
9	spoken	speak	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 derives	parataxis
10	by	by	ADP	_	13 garrisons	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 garrisons	det
12	Roman	roman	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 garrisons	amod
13	garrisons	garrison	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 spoken	obl:agent
14	stationed	station	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 garrisons	acl
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 Britain	case
16	Britain	Britain	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 stationed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	derive	present	It		Latin	directly property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from latin=Material
2	speak speech: other	participle					vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	station	participle		the Roman garrisons not said here	Britain		vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in britain=Destination

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It derives from the speech of Germanic settlers who arrived in Britain in the fifth century

The tree, 16 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 derives	nsubj
2	derives	derive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 speech	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 speech	det
5	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 derives	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 settlers	case
7	Germanic	germanic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 settlers	amod
8	settlers	settler	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 speech	nmod
9	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 arrived	nsubj
10	arrived	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 settlers	acl:relcl
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 Britain	case
12	Britain	Britain	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 arrived	obl
13	in	in	ADP	_	16 century	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 century	det
15	fifth	fifth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 century	amod
16	century	century	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 arrived	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	roles by
1	derive	present	It		the speech of Germanic settlers		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from speech=Material
2	arrive	past	Germanic settlers		Britain	century	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	speak			Germanic settlers			nom speech «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It was the original language of the indigenous Britons since the most remote ages of prehistory

The tree, 16 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	5 language	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 language	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 language	det
4	original	original	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 language	amod
5	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 Britons	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Britons	det
8	indigenous	indigenous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 Britons	amod
9	Britons	Briton	PROPN	Number=Plur	5 language	nmod
10	since	since	ADP	_	14 ages	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 ages	det
12	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	13 remote	advmod
13	remote	remote	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 ages	amod
14	ages	age	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 language	nmod
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 prehistory	case
16	prehistory	prehistory	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 ages	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	It	the original language			since the remote ages of prehistory	of the indigenous Britons	tree rules

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/language/22-where-english-came-from/e1/