---
title: Ascertain the principal advantage conferred upon Mongol forces by ea… — The Mongols · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal advantage conferred upon Mongol forces by each rider's possession of several horses. Exam question 4 of lesson 23 «The Mongols» 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 · The Mongols

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal advantage conferred upon Mongol forces by each rider's possession of several horses.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, rider · **What happens:** ascertain, confer, possess · **To what, where:** principal advantage, several horses

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 23 «The Mongols» 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/23-the-mongols/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the principal advantage conferred upon Mongol forces by each rider's possession of several horses.
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	advantage	advantage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	conferred	confer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	Mongol	mongol	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	forces	force	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
11	rider	rider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	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 advantage |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent advantage=Topic |
| 2 | **confer** | participle |  | the principal advantage *not said here* |  |  |  | upon Mongol forces; by each rider's possession of several horses | vn chit\_chat-37.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **possess** |  | each rider | several horses |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Increased weight of armour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:e4:o1:1
# text = Increased weight of armour
1	Increased	increase	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	amod	_	_
2	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	armour	armour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **increase** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The capacity to cross the ocean

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:e4:o2:1
# text = The capacity to cross the ocean
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	capacity	capacity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	acl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ocean	ocean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cross** | to-infinitive |  | the ocean |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ocean=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sustained speed through the use of fresh mounts

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:e4:o3:1
# text = Sustained speed through the use of fresh mounts
1	Sustained	sustain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	through	through	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	mounts	mount	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sustain** | participle |  | speed |  |  |  | through the use of fresh mounts | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent speed=Theme through use=Instrument |
| 2 | **use** |  |  | fresh mounts |  |  |  |  | nom use «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Exemption from the payment of tribute

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:e4:o4:1
# text = Exemption from the payment of tribute
1	Exemption	exemption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	payment	payment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	tribute	tribute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** |  |  | tribute |  |  |  |  | nom payment «possession 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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- ← previous: [The Mongols, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/23-the-mongols/e3/)
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- ↑ back to [The Mongols](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/23-the-mongols/)