Exam question 3 · Inventions, computers and the internet

Identify the principal consequence of the invention of the printing press.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, invent · To what, where: principal consequence, printing press

This is exam question 3 of lesson 59 «Inventions, computers and the internet» of the world 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 consequence	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 consequence	amod
4	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 invention	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 invention	det
7	invention	invention	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consequence	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	11 press	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 press	det
10	printing	printing	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 press	compound
11	press	press	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 invention	nmod
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal consequence of the invention of the printing press					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent consequence=Theme
2	invent			the printing press					nom invention «cognition 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

Handwriting was prohibited by law

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Handwriting	handwriting	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 law	case
5	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	past · passive	law	Handwriting					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme

Option 2

The internet was established forthwith

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 internet	det
2	internet	internet	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 established	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 established	aux:pass
4	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	forthwith	forthwith	ADV	_	4 established	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	establish	past · passive		the internet				forthwith property	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Books became cheaper and knowledge spread more widely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Books	book	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 became	nsubj
2	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	cheaper	cheap	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 became	xcomp
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 spread	cc
5	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 spread	nsubj
6	spread	spread	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 became	conj
7	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	8 widely	advmod
8	widely	widely	ADV	_	6 spread	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	past	Books					cheap property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	spread	past	knowledge					widely property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Books became more costly and rarer than they were before

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Books	book	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 became	nsubj
2	became	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 costly	advmod
4	costly	costly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 became	xcomp
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 rarer	cc
6	rarer	rare	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 became	xcomp
7	than	than	SCONJ	_	10 before	mark
8	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 before	nsubj
9	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 before	cop
10	before	before	ADV	_	6 rarer	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	past	Books					costly, rare property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	is	past	Books = book					before property	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/world/59-inventions-computers-internet/e3/