Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and of today

Tests: 3 of 12 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 9 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 74 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 · wrong ✗

Tariq: "Tokyo's the biggest city, easy." His cousin: "Nah bhai, Dhaka!" ("Bhai" means brother.) His mate from Jakarta: "No way, Jakarta!" Who's right?

1. Only the cousin; Dhaka is twice as big as Tokyo — ← Mova's choice · score 2
2. It depends on the counting rules; a 2025 UN report put Jakarta first — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. None of them; London is still the biggest — no support
4. Only Tariq: Tokyo is the biggest by every way of counting, easy — 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 74, line 6: «The world's biggest city has changed many times: from Mesopotamian cities like Uruk, to Rome, to Chinese cities like Chang'an, to Baghdad, to Beijing, to Londo…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · wrong ✗

Mei rattles off: "Uruk, Rome, Chang'an, London, New York, Tokyo!" Her mate: "The biggest city was always in Europe, innit." What's fair?

1. Cities were never measured before 2000 — no support
2. The biggest city was always Rome, right up to today — ← Mova's choice · score 3
3. The crown moved around the world, often in Asia — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Her mate is right: the biggest was always in Europe — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 66, line 16: «People have always belonged to many groups at once: family, village, people, faith, country and the world.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «people» (+2); the same property (+1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

Jayden: "Megacities? Like, mega-huge, skibidi huge?" What's the real meaning?

1. Cities with more than 100 people — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Cities made of one single giant building — no support
3. Cities of more than 10 million people — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Cities guarded by giant robots — 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 ✗

Ade from Lagos: "Lagos dey grow sharp sharp, e be like say e no go stop o!" ("Sharp sharp" means very fast, in Nigerian Pidgin.) What does this show?

1. Big cities are only in rich countries — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Lagos stopped growing in 1900 — no support
3. Some of the fastest growing cities are in Africa — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Lagos is getting smaller — 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 5 · right ✓

Sofia sees tin-roof homes on telly. Her cousin: "They just like living like that, it's their vibe." Fairer view?

1. People choose them because they love the sound of rain on their tin roofs — no support
2. Such homes only exist in films and on telly — no support
3. Cities grow faster than proper homes, pipes and roads can be built — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. They are holiday cabins for tourists — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 71, line 9: «Sugar cane was first grown in New Guinea, and people in India first made crystal sugar; from the 1500s Europeans set up sugar plantations in Brazil and the Car…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «people» (+5); the same action «make» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · wrong ✗

Ben stares at the Burj Khalifa: "Bro, how is it not falling down?" What would happen if there were no safe lifts?

1. Stairs would be faster than lifts anyway, so nothing — no support
2. Very tall buildings would be almost useless for people — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Buildings would just grow taller and taller — ← Mova's choice · score 6
4. Nothing at all, bro, lifts are just there for fun — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 74, line 12: «Tall buildings became possible with steel frames and with safe lifts, shown by Elisha Otis in the 1850s, which stop the lift falling if a cable breaks.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «tall buildings» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same property (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · right ✓

Liam's mate: "Angkor was lost in the jungle till explorers found it." Liam: "Sus." ("Sus" means suspicious.) Why is Liam right to doubt it?

1. Angkor is in Europe, not in any jungle — no support
2. Local monks and people kept using Angkor Wat all along — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
3. Angkor was found on the Moon by astronauts — no support
4. Explorers built Angkor themselves and then said they found it — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 7, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 74, line 4: «The past had big cities that outsiders forgot: Cahokia, by the Mississippi, was about as big as London around 1100, and Angkor in Cambodia was never really «lo…», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «keep» (+4); the same doer «monks» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · wrong ✗

Ava's Missouri uncle: "Y'all, there wasn't nothin' here but prairie before St Louis." ("Y'all" means you all.) What does Cahokia show?

1. A big city of maybe 10,000 to 20,000 people stood nearby around 1100 — ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. Cahokia was built by the French in 1900 — ← Mova's choice · score 9
3. He is right: no one at all lived there before the French came in the 1700s — no support
4. Cahokia was a Roman camp — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 9, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 74, line 14: «Cahokia, near today's St Louis in the USA, was built by Mississippian people and had perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 people around 1100, about as many as London then;…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «build» (+3); the same thing acted on «cahokia» (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · right ✓

Leo: "Why build a whole capital from scratch, that's mad." What's a reason?

1. Because games told them to — no support
2. Because the President liked camping — no support
3. To be fair between regions instead of choosing an old rival city — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. Because the old capital ran out of bricks and could not grow any more — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 74, line 15: «Some capitals were planned from scratch to be fair between regions: Washington DC in the 1790s, Canberra chosen in 1908 and founded in 1913, and Brasília in 19…», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · wrong ✗

Kai from an Iowa farm: "City kids think food comes from shops lol." What is true?

1. Most city people grow all their own food on their balconies and roofs — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. Farms are only found inside cities — no support
3. Shops make the food in the back room — score 3
4. A few farmers with machines grow food for millions of city people — ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 73, line 2: «People still came, because cities had what villages lacked: jobs, markets, temples, schools, doctors and walls for safety; in Europa Universalis you just click…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «real cities» (+5); the same action «grow» (+3). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · wrong ✗

Emma's dad, a bit salty: "No cars in the centre? How'm I s'posed to get to work?" ("Salty" means annoyed.) What's the balanced view?

1. Everyone agrees nothing should change — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Everyone agrees cars must go, so your dad will just have to walk — no support
3. Cars are already banned everywhere — no support
4. Car-free centres have fans and critics, so it is debated — ✓ 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 12 · wrong ✗

In Europa Universalis, Mei's capital Beijing has the biggest number on the map for centuries. What does real history say?

1. Beijing never existed before 1900, when it was built as a new capital — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. Beijing was a small village until 2000 — no support
3. Cities in games always match history exactly — score 4
4. Beijing was indeed among the world's biggest cities for long periods — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 7, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 74, line 15: «Some capitals were planned from scratch to be fair between regions: Washington DC in the 1790s, Canberra chosen in 1908 and founded in 1913, and Brasília in 19…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «capitals» (+3); the same circumstance (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the city which a report of the United Nations published in two thousand and twenty-five ranked as the most populous.

1. Canberra, Australia — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. London, England — no support
3. Rome, Italy — no support
4. Jakarta — ✓ 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

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the designation «megacity»?

1. An urban area having a population in excess of ten million persons — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. An urban area consisting solely of skyscrapers — no support
3. Any urban area possessing a castle or a cathedral of great antiquity — no support
4. An urban area constructed upon water — 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 · right ✓

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning Cahokia.

1. It was a substantial settlement of Mississippian people, of perhaps ten to twenty thousand inhabitants around eleven hundred — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It was established by French settlers in the twentieth century — no support
3. It was a temple complex in Cambodia — no support
4. It was a Roman encampment of the first century — 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 reason for which certain capitals, such as Brasília and Canberra, were established anew.

1. Because the former capitals had been submerged by the sea — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Because no other cities existed in those states — no support
3. To be impartial as between the regions of the state — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. To conceal the government from foreign visitors — 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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