Olympiad: cause and effect chains ★★★

Tests: 4 of 12 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: ★★★ · Understood: 10 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 86 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 ✓

★★★ Mason in Boston: «Wicked simple: one dude got shot in Sarajevo, so the whole world went to war.» Best reply?

1. No, the war began when Britain invaded Sarajevo — score 4
2. The shot was a spark; rival alliances pulled countries in — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. No, that shot came four years after the war ended — score 4
4. Yeah, one shot and nothing else, that's the whole story — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 86, line 4: «Trap two: big events rarely have only one cause. The shot in Sarajevo in 1914 was the spark of the First World War, but two rival alliances of big powers were…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «shot» (+2); the same thing acted on «spark» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Aoife in Galway: «Sure, people learned to read first, then books got cheap, then printing came along.» Fix the order.

1. Printing, readers, then the books got dear — no support
2. Cheap books, printing, then readers — ← Mova's choice · score 3
3. Printing, cheap books, more readers — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Readers, cheap books, then printing — 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 22, line 16: «Muslims learned papermaking from China and built paper mills in Baghdad and later in Spain, so books became cheaper.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «books» (+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 ✗

★★★ Kiara in Melbourne: «Plague killed heaps of people, so workers got paid heaps less after, yeah nah?» What really happened?

1. Right, wages fell, as nobody needed workers — no support
2. Workers were paid in bread, not in money — ← Mova's choice · score 4
3. Wages stayed exactly the same for 500 years — no support
4. Fewer workers, so survivors could ask more — ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 6, line 7: «Workers cut stone blocks with copper tools, dragged them on sledges over sand wetted to make it slippery, and moved them up ramps.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «workers» (+3); the same thing acted on «workers» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Ethan reckons: «The Spanish won in America just coz they were way stronger, period.» What's missing?

1. Smallpox had already killed huge numbers of native people — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. Nothing; a few hundred soldiers alone could easily beat millions — no support
3. The Inca invited the Spanish in to rule them — no support
4. The Aztecs had no cities, no farms and no armies — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 86, line 11: «After 1492 diseases such as smallpox, carried by Europeans, killed very many native people of the Americas, who had never met them before, and this helped the…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «kill» (+3); the same thing acted on «many native people» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ A London dad in 1858: «Bit of a whiff off the river today.» The Thames stank so badly it was called the Great Stink. What came of it?

1. Everyone left London for good — no support
2. London built big new sewers — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. London moved to a new river — no support
4. Nothing, it was only a whiff — ← Mova's choice · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 73, line 9: «In the hot summer of 1858 the River Thames in London smelled so bad from waste that it was called the Great Stink; the engineer Joseph Bazalgette then built a…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «river thames» (+2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Jess: «Snow just guessed the pump lol.» What did he really do?

1. Mapped the cases and saw them gather round one pump — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Smelled every pump in London till one smelled bad — no support
3. Closed every single pump in the whole of England — no support
4. Asked the queen which of the pumps to close — 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 7 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Grandpa Earl: «Back in my day... well, my grandad's day, every town kept its own time, and the trains changed nothing.» True?

1. No, railways put towns on London time — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Yes, every town keeps its own time still — ← Mova's choice · score 1
3. No, a law of Napoleon's made them change — no support
4. Yes, the change came with the internet — 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 43, line 6: «The Grand Duchy of Lithuania took most Ukrainian lands in the 14th century; its rulers were Lithuanian, its official written language was largely Ruthenian, an…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «keep» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ «Tea, silver, opium, war, Hong Kong.» Which link explains why British traders brought opium to China?

1. Opium was the price agreed for Hong Kong — no support
2. China's emperor asked Britain for opium — no support
3. They wanted silver back after paying for tea — ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. They wanted to grow opium in the fields of southern China — ← Mova's choice · score 11

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 11, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 86, line 15: «Britain bought lots of tea from China and paid in silver; British traders then sold the harmful drug opium in China to get silver back, China banned it, and th…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «british traders» (+4); the same thing acted on «harmful drug opium» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Priya in Mumbai: «Sputnik went up, so America just chilled, lah.» What did the USA really do?

1. Gave up on space travel for good — no support
2. Bought Sputnik from the Soviets — no support
3. Set up NASA and raced to the Moon — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. Built a copy of Sputnik and stopped — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 3 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 86, line 17: «The Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957 shocked the United States, which set up NASA in 1958 and raced the Soviet Union to the Moon, landing there in 1969.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «nasa» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same action «set up» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Lucy: «Women got the vote in 1918 only coz of the war, end of.» Better answer?

1. No; British women could always vote — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. Right; nobody asked for votes before 1914 — no support
3. No; the war stopped women from ever voting — score 4
4. The war helped, but campaigners had fought for decades — ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 32, line 12: «In 1918 many British women over 30 won the vote, and in 1928 all women over 21 could vote, the same as men.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «women» (+5); the same action «vote» (+3). The right option, 4, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Tom: «Writing came first, then people invented farming so they'd have something to write about.» What's wrong?

1. Nothing; writing is much older than farming — no support
2. Farming came only after the printing press — no support
3. Farming came thousands of years before writing — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Writing and farming began on the same day — ← Mova's choice · score 8

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 2, line 2: «Nobody invented farming in one go. It grew slowly, and it began separately in several places: the Middle East, China, Mexico, the Andes and others.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «farming» (+5); the same action «begin» (+3). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Amara: «The «Kobzar» came out in 1840, right after the Opium War began in 1839, so the war caused it.» Fair?

1. Yes; every event causes the next one — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. No; the «Kobzar» caused the Opium War — no support
3. Yes; the «Kobzar» is about the Opium War — no support
4. No; after is not because — ✓ 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 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the principal purpose for which writing was first developed in Sumer.

1. The sending of letters abroad — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Records of goods and taxes — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The composition of poetry — no support
4. The recording of games — 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 ✗

Select the factor which, following the Black Death, enabled surviving labourers to demand higher wages.

1. New royal laws on pay — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. A great surplus of gold — no support
3. Unusually good harvests — no support
4. A shortage of workers — ✓ 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 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Determine the immediate occasion, as distinct from the deeper causes, of the First World War.

1. The landing at Gallipoli in 1915 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The rivalry of two great alliances — no support
3. The shooting of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The Christmas truce of 1914 — 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 source of the cholera outbreak identified by John Snow in 1854.

1. Bad smells in the air — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Rats on the ships — no support
3. Cold winter weather — no support
4. One water pump — ✓ 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

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/history/86-olympiad-cause-and-effect-chains/