---
title: Ascertain the maxim commonly attributed to Confucius. — Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk R… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the maxim commonly attributed to Confucius. Exam question 4 of lesson 10 «Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Exam question 4 · Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the maxim commonly attributed to Confucius.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, attribute · **To what, where:** maxim, Confucius

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 10 «Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius» of the history 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/history/10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the maxim commonly attributed to Confucius.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	maxim	maxim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	commonly	commonly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	attributed	attribute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Confucius	Confucius	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the maxim |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent maxim=Topic |
| 2 | **attribute** | participle |  | the maxim *not said here* | Confucius |  |  | commonly *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Know thyself and nothing in excess

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:e4:o1:1
# text = Know thyself and nothing in excess
1	Know	know	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	thyself	thyself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes|Style=Arch	1	obj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	conj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	excess	excess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | imperative | you *not said here* | thyself |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer thyself=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All roads lead to Rome

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:e4:o2:1
# text = All roads lead to Rome
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	lead	lead	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Rome	Rome	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lead** | present | all roads |  | Rome |  |  |  | vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition to rome=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Divide and rule

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:e4:o3:1
# text = Divide and rule
1	Divide	divide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Do not do unto others that which you would not have done unto yourself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:e4:o4:1
# text = Do not do unto others that which you would not have done unto yourself
1	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	do	do	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obj	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obj	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
12	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	_
13	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	12	obl	_	_
14	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **do** | imperative · do-support | you *not said here* | yourself |  |  |  | unto others | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **do** | would · perfect | you | others |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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**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.

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- ← previous: [Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk R…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius/e3/)
- next →: [Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens an…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius/)