---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Rome: the fall of the West and what Ro… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the decline of the western Roman Empire? Exam question 2 of lesson 16 «Rome: the fall of the West and what Rome left us» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each
---

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# Exam question 2 · Rome: the fall of the West and what Rome left us

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the decline of the western Roman Empire?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** western Roman Empire · **What happens:** follow, characteris, decline · **To what, where:** decline

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 16 «Rome: the fall of the West and what Rome left us» 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/16-rome-the-fall-of-the-west-and-what-rome-left-us/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:16-rome-the-fall-of-the-west-and-what-rome-left-us:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the decline of the western Roman Empire?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	decline	decline	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	western	western	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	Roman	Roman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	Empire	Empire	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the decline of the western Roman Empire |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **decline** |  | the western Roman Empire |  |  |  |  |  | nom decline «process intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
It resulted from a single catastrophe in one day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:16-rome-the-fall-of-the-west-and-what-rome-left-us:e2:o1:1
# text = It resulted from a single catastrophe in one day
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	resulted	result	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	catastrophe	catastrophe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **result** | past | It |  |  | a single catastrophe | day |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It did not occur

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:16-rome-the-fall-of-the-west-and-what-rome-left-us:e2:o2:1
# text = It did not occur
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	occur	occur	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **occur** | past · do-support | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It resulted from numerous concurrent difficulties over a protracted period

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:16-rome-the-fall-of-the-west-and-what-rome-left-us:e2:o3:1
# text = It resulted from numerous concurrent difficulties over a protracted period
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	resulted	result	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	numerous	numerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	concurrent	concurrent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	difficulties	difficulty	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	over	over	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	protracted	protract	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
10	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **result** | past | It |  |  | numerous concurrent difficulties |  | over a protracted period | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over period=Location |
| 2 | **protract** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It resulted solely from the conduct of one emperor

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:16-rome-the-fall-of-the-west-and-what-rome-left-us:e2:o4:1
# text = It resulted solely from the conduct of one emperor
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	resulted	result	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	conduct	conduct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	emperor	emperor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **result** | past | It |  |  | the conduct of one emperor |  | solely *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **conduct** |  |  | one emperor |  |  |  |  | nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ↑ back to [Rome: the fall of the West and what Rome left us](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/16-rome-the-fall-of-the-west-and-what-rome-left-us/)