---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — The Maya · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Maya conception of zero? Exam question 3 of lesson 18 «The Maya» 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 right.
---

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# Exam question 3 · The Maya

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Maya conception of zero?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** Maya conception

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 18 «The Maya» 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/18-the-maya/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:e3:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Maya conception of zero?
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	11	det	_	_
10	Maya	Maya	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	conception	conception	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	zero	zero	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	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 Maya conception of zero |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was devised independently and represented by a shell

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:e3:o1:1
# text = It was devised independently and represented by a shell
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	devised	devise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	independently	independently	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	represented	represent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **devise** | past · passive |  | It |  |  |  | independently *property* | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **represent** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | by a shell | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was unknown to them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:e3:o2:1
# text = It was unknown to them
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	unknown	unknown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  | them *= they* |  |  | unknown *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was introduced by Spanish priests

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:e3:o3:1
# text = It was introduced by Spanish priests
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	introduced	introduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	priests	priest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **introduce** | past · passive | Spanish priests | It |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was borrowed from India by sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:e3:o4:1
# text = It was borrowed from India by sea
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	borrowed	borrow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **borrow** | past · passive | sea | It |  | India |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent subject=Theme from india=Source |

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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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- ← previous: [The Maya, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/18-the-maya/e2/)
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