---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — The age of science · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the scientific method? Exam question 2 of lesson 29 «The age of science» 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 2 · The age of science

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the scientific method?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 29 «The age of science» 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/29-the-age-of-science/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the scientific method?
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	scientific	scientific	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	method	method	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	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 scientific method |  |  |  | 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 -->
The testing of hypotheses by experiment and measurement

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:e2:o1:1
# text = The testing of hypotheses by experiment and measurement
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	testing	testing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	hypotheses	hypothesis	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	experiment	experiment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	measurement	measurement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **test** |  |  | hypotheses by experiment and measurement |  |  |  |  | nom testing «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The settling of questions by majority vote

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:e2:o2:1
# text = The settling of questions by majority vote
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	settling	settling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	majority	majority	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	vote	vote	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **settle** |  | questions |  |  |  |  |  | nom settling «event intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Deference to the authority of ancient texts

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:e2:o3:1
# text = Deference to the authority of ancient texts
1	Deference	deference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	authority	authority	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	texts	text	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Reliance upon the opinion of rulers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:e2:o4:1
# text = Reliance upon the opinion of rulers
1	Reliance	reliance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	opinion	opinion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	rulers	ruler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **opine** |  |  | rulers |  |  |  |  | nom opinion «cognition 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.

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