Ancient India: the Indus cities and the first kingdoms

Tests: 7 of 10 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 7 of 14 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 7 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 ✓

Why would covered drains make a city healthier?

1. Drains keep out robbers — no support
2. Dirty water is kept away from people — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 0
3. Covered drains grow food — no support
4. Drains make the streets warmer in winter — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 7, line 7: «Many Indus houses had bathrooms and toilets connected to covered drains along the streets, which carried dirty water away from people.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «dirty water» (+1); the same property (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1); a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · right ✓

An old book says invaders wiped out the Indus cities in one day. What do historians think now?

1. Volcanoes destroyed them — no support
2. Aliens took the people away — no support
3. The book is right in every detail — no support
4. The cities faded slowly, probably from river and climate changes — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 7, line 10: «Around 3,900 years ago the Indus cities slowly emptied, perhaps because rivers changed course and the climate became drier.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «indus cities» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗

You dig up a seal with a bull and signs nobody can read. Where was it probably from?

1. Ancient Rome — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The Aztec Empire in Mexico — no support
3. Viking Norway — no support
4. The Indus Valley cities — ✓ the right answer · 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 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

If every brick is the same size, what does that suggest?

1. Nobody cared how houses looked — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Bricks grew on trees — no support
3. Someone planned and organised the building — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The bricks were all made by one person alone — no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · right ✓

so was india like super behind egypt back then or what?

1. Yes, India was empty then — no support
2. No, India had cars already — no support
3. Yes, India had no cities at all until the Romans came to build them — no support
4. No, the Indus cities were great at the same time as the pyramids — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · 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 7, line 16: «The Indus cities were at their height around the same time the Great Pyramid was built in Egypt.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «indus cities» (+2); the same property (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · right ✓

Why did the prince Siddhartha leave his comfortable palace?

1. To become a soldier for Rome — score 4
2. To understand why people suffer — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
3. Because the palace burned down — score 4
4. To find gold in the mountains — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 8, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 7, line 14: «Siddhartha Gautama, a prince, left his palace about 2,500 years ago to understand why people suffer, and became known as the Buddha, the awakened one.», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «understand» (+4); the same doer «siddhartha gautama» (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · right ✓

The Vedas were not written down for centuries. How did they survive?

1. They did not survive at all — no support
2. They were kept in a cave as painted pictures on the walls — no support
3. People learned them by heart and recited them — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
4. They were sung only by birds — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 7, line 12: «The Vedas are very old sacred hymns, learned by heart and passed on by speaking for many centuries before being written down.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «learn» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★ · right ✓

What would happen if someone found a long Indus text written next to a known language?

1. Nothing, no writing can ever be read — score 0
2. It might help us read the Indus writing — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. All the cities would come back — no support
4. It would prove the Indus people were Romans — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 6, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 7, line 3: «The Indus people wrote short signs on little stone seals with animals on them, but nobody can read their writing yet, like a locked diary with no key.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «read» (+4); the same thing acted on «writing» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

Most towns in Europe 4,500 years ago had no drains. Which is true?

1. Europe had much better drains than India did — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The Indus cities had no houses — no support
3. The Indus cities were far ahead in planning — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Nobody anywhere had houses then — 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 ✓

A gamer says India in history was always one country under one king. Is that right?

1. No, there were many kingdoms; empires like the Maurya came and went — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Yes, always one king since the start — no support
3. No, India had no kings at all — no support
4. Yes, the Indus king ruled until today — 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 river along which the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were situated.

1. The Indus — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. The Ganges — no support
3. The Euphrates — no support
4. The Yangtze — 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 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the urban arrangements of the Indus civilisation?

1. Towers of glass and iron — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Wooden huts disposed at random — no support
3. Streets laid out upon a grid, with standard bricks and covered drains — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Circular streets without drainage of any kind — 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 ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the script of the Indus civilisation.

1. It is identical with Greek — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It was deciphered by means of the Rosetta Stone — no support
3. It has not hitherto been deciphered — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It was never employed upon seals — 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 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the explanation of the decline of the Indus cities which is at present most widely accepted.

1. A decree of the Persian king — no support
2. A sudden destruction by invaders in a single day — ← Mova's choice · score 8
3. A volcanic eruption — no support
4. A gradual abandonment attributable to changing rivers and a drier climate — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 7, line 11: «An old idea that invaders destroyed the Indus cities suddenly is now not believed; the decline was slow.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «destroy» (+4); the same doer «invaders» (+4). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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