The Black Death and the end of the Middle Ages

Tests: 7 of 10 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 9 of 14 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 24 of the history course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★ · right ✓

rhyme ring a ring o roses = plague song, everyone knows that

1. No, it is about the Hundred Years' War — no support
2. Probably not, it was written down hundreds of years later — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score -1
3. Yes, the Black Death was named after it — no support
4. Yes, it was sung by plague doctors in 1347 as a warning to all — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score -1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 24, line 11: «The nursery rhyme Ring a ring o' roses was written down hundreds of years later and is probably not about the plague.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «write down» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · right ✓

In a game a plague doctor with a beaked mask walks around in 1348. What is wrong?

1. That mask comes from a later plague in the 1600s — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
2. Masks were invented in 2020 — no support
3. Doctors did not exist in 1348 — no support
4. Nothing, they wore it from the start — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 24, line 13: «The famous beaked plague doctor mask comes from a later plague in the 1600s, not from the Black Death.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «come» (+2); the same doer «famous beaked plague doctor mask» (+2); the same place «later plague» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗

If a village lost half its farm workers to the plague, what would happen to the pay of those left?

1. It would fall to nothing — no support
2. It would usually go up — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Workers would have to pay the lord more — no support
4. It would stay exactly the same — ← Mova's choice · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 2, line 3: «Think of a vegetable patch at school: once you plant beans you cannot wander off, you have to stay, water them and guard them. Farmers did the same, so they bu…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «stay» (+2); the same doer «villages» (+2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · right ✓

Why is the Hundred Years' War a funny name?

1. It happened in 100 BC — no support
2. It actually lasted 116 years — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. Nobody really fought in it — no support
4. It lasted only one single day — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 24, line 16: «The Hundred Years' War between England and France over who should rule France lasted on and off for 116 years, from 1337 to 1453.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «last» (+3); the same property (+2); a different doer (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

Your EU5 game starts in 1337. What real war begins that very year?

1. The First World War — ← Mova's choice · score 10
2. The Crusades — score 4
3. The Viking raids on Lindisfarne — score 4
4. The Hundred Years' War between England and France — ✓ the right answer · score 10

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 10, tied with another option at 10 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 24, line 4: «The same years saw England and France fight the Hundred Years' War, which began in 1337, the year Europa Universalis V starts, and a teenage peasant girl, Joan…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «begin» (+3); the same thing acted on «war» (+2); the same doer «war» (+1). The right option, 4, scored 10. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · right ✓

A sick traveller arrives in a medieval port that uses quarantine. What happens to him?

1. He is kept apart for some weeks — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
2. He is given a free horse — no support
3. He is made mayor of the town — no support
4. He is sent to Rome at once to see the Pope — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 24, line 12: «Medieval remedies such as herbs, bleeding and sweet flowers mostly did not work, but some towns kept travellers apart for forty days, which is where the word q…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «keep» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · right ✓

When people get scared of a new disease and blame a whole group, what does history teach?

1. Nothing at all — no support
2. It is always the group's fault — no support
3. Fear can make people cruel to innocent neighbours — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. Blaming one group of people is a good way to stop a disease — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 24, line 10: «In many towns frightened people falsely blamed Jewish communities for the plague and attacked them, a sad example of how fear can make people cruel.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «make» (+2); the same doer «fear» (+2); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★ · right ✓

How did Joan of Arc, a peasant, become so famous?

1. She led the French army to victory at Orléans — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. She was born a princess — no support
3. She won a jousting tournament — no support
4. She married the king of England — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

Why might the fall of Constantinople have helped the Renaissance in Italy?

1. Italy was given the whole city as a present — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Books were banned in Italy — no support
3. Greek scholars brought their books to Italy — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. All the Ottomans moved to Italy — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★ · right ✓

bloody plague, why didnt they just use medicine?

1. They did not know about germs, and their remedies mostly did not work — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. They did, and their medicines worked perfectly every single time — no support
3. They had modern pills but forgot how to use them — no support
4. Medicine was against the law — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the true agent responsible for the pestilence known as the Black Death.

1. Corrupted air arising from the swamps, graveyards and sewers — no support
2. An unfavourable alignment of the planets — no support
3. A germ conveyed by fleas upon rats and other animals — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. The consumption of spoiled grain alone — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 24, line 2: «Nobody knew about germs then; the real cause, a germ carried by fleas on rats and other animals, was found more than 500 years later, in 1894.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «carry» (+2); the same thing acted on «germ» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the duration, in years, of the conflict designated the Hundred Years' War.

1. Fifty-six — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. One hundred and sixteen — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Precisely one hundred — no support
4. One thousand — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the condition of surviving labourers subsequent to the plague?

1. Their scarcity enabled them to demand higher wages — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. They were forbidden to work — no support
3. Their wages were universally reduced by the lords and the king — ← Mova's choice · score 3
4. They were all made knights — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 4, line 15: «The Assyrian king Ashurbanipal collected a huge library of clay tablets; baked clay does not rot or burn away easily, so many survive, which is how we can stil…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «assyrian king» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1); a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the year fourteen hundred and fifty-three.

1. Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. The Black Death first arrived in Europe — no support
3. Magna Carta was sealed — no support
4. Columbus reached the Caribbean — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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