---
title: Ascertain the principal reason for which castle fortifications decli… — Castles, knights and cathedrals · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal reason for which castle fortifications declined in military utility from the fifteenth century onwards. Exam question 4 of lesson 21 «Castles, knights and cathedrals» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and o
---

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# Exam question 4 · Castles, knights and cathedrals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal reason for which castle fortifications declined in military utility from the fifteenth century onwards.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, castle fortifications · **What happens:** ascertain, decline · **To what, where:** principal reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 21 «Castles, knights and cathedrals» 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/21-castles-knights-and-cathedrals/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:21-castles-knights-and-cathedrals:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal reason for which castle fortifications declined in military utility from the fifteenth century onwards.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
7	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	fortifications	fortification	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	declined	decline	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	military	military	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	utility	utility	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	fifteenth	fifteenth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
17	onwards	onwards	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	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 principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **decline** | past | castle fortifications |  |  |  | century | for the principal reason; in military utility; onwards *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in utility=Attribute |

<!-- .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 -->
The prohibition of castles by the Church throughout Christendom

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:21-castles-knights-and-cathedrals:e4:o1:1
# text = The prohibition of castles by the Church throughout Christendom
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prohibition	prohibition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	castles	castle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Church	Church	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	throughout	throughout	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Christendom	Christendom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prohibit** |  | the Church throughout Christendom | castles |  |  |  |  | nom prohibition «communication transitive»: of=patient by=agent |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The advent of cannon capable of breaching stone walls

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:21-castles-knights-and-cathedrals:e4:o2:1
# text = The advent of cannon capable of breaching stone walls
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	advent	advent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	cannon	cannon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	capable	capable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	breaching	breach	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
8	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **breach** | gerund |  | stone walls |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The abolition of knighthood

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:21-castles-knights-and-cathedrals:e4:o3:1
# text = The abolition of knighthood
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	abolition	abolition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	knighthood	knighthood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **abolish** |  |  | knighthood |  |  |  |  | nom abolition «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The disappearance of moats through drought

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:21-castles-knights-and-cathedrals:e4:o4:1
# text = The disappearance of moats through drought
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	disappearance	disappearance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	moats	moat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	drought	drought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **disappear** |  | moats |  |  | drought |  |  | nom disappearance «act intransitive»: of=agent through=place |

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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: [Castles, knights and cathedrals, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/21-castles-knights-and-cathedrals/e3/)
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- ↑ back to [Castles, knights and cathedrals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/21-castles-knights-and-cathedrals/)