---
title: Ascertain the status of the helots within Spartan society. — Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the status of the helots within Spartan society. Exam question 4 of lesson 11 «Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens and Sparta» 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 Greece: city-states, Athens and Sparta

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the status of the helots within Spartan society.

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 11 «Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens and Sparta» 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/11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the status of the helots within Spartan society.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	status	status	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	helots	helot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	within	within	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	Spartan	spartan	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	society	society	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	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 status of the helots within Spartan society |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent status=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Foreign merchants resident in Athens

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:e4:o1:1
# text = Foreign merchants resident in Athens
1	Foreign	foreign	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	merchants	merchant	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	resident	resident	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Athens	Athens	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **merchant** | present |  | resident |  | Athens |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Priests of Athena upon the Acropolis

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:e4:o2:1
# text = Priests of Athena upon the Acropolis
1	Priests	priest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	Athena	Athena	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Acropolis	Acropolis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hereditary kings of Sparta

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:e4:o3:1
# text = The hereditary kings of Sparta
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	hereditary	hereditary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	kings	king	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Sparta	Sparta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An enslaved population compelled to cultivate the land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:e4:o4:1
# text = An enslaved population compelled to cultivate the land
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	enslaved	enslave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	population	population	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	compelled	compel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	cultivate	cultivate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **enslave** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **compel** | participle |  | a enslaved population *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Result |
| 3 | **cultivate** | to-infinitive |  | the land |  |  |  |  | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent land=Product |

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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 Greece: city-states, Athens an…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta/e3/)
- next →: [Ancient Greece: democracy, the Olympic…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/12-ancient-greece-democracy-olympics-myths-and-thinkers/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens and Sparta](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta/)