---
title: Ethan says the US has the oldest constitution, no cap? What is fair? — Who decides: kings, councils, republic… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ethan says the US has the oldest constitution, no cap? What is fair? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 67 «Who decides: kings, councils, republics and democracies» 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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# Test 9 · ★★ · Who decides: kings, councils, republics and democracies

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ethan says the US has the oldest constitution, no cap? What is fair?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Ethan, US · **What happens:** say, have, be · **To what, where:** oldest constitution · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 67 «Who decides: kings, councils, republics and democracies» of the history course of Mova's primary school. 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/67-who-decides-kings-councils-republics-and-democracies/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Ethan says the US has the oldest constitution, no cap?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:67-who-decides-kings-councils-republics-and-democracies:t9:1
# text = Ethan says the US has the oldest constitution, no cap?
1	Ethan	Ethan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	US	US	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	amod	_	_
8	constitution	constitution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	11	det	_	_
11	cap	cap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Ethan |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | present | the US | the oldest constitution |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent constitution=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is fair?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:67-who-decides-kings-councils-republics-and-democracies:t9:2
# text = What is fair?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | fair *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cap, it was written in 2010

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:67-who-decides-kings-councils-republics-and-democracies:t9:o1:1
# text = Cap, it was written in 2010
1	Cap	cap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	2010	2010	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past · passive |  | Cap |  | 2010 |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in 2010=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cap, the US has no constitution

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:67-who-decides-kings-councils-republics-and-democracies:t9:o2:1
# text = Cap, the US has no constitution
1	Cap	cap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	US	US	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
7	constitution	constitution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Cap | no constitution |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent constitution=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No cap, it is older than Hammurabi

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:67-who-decides-kings-councils-republics-and-democracies:t9:o3:1
# text = No cap, it is older than Hammurabi
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	cap	cap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Hammurabi	Hammurabi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | no cap |  |  |  |  | than Hammurabi; old *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Oldest written national one in use, but San Marino's laws are older

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:67-who-decides-kings-councils-republics-and-democracies:t9:o4:1
# text = Oldest written national one in use, but San Marino's laws are older
1	Oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	amod	_	_
2	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	amod	_	_
3	national	national	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
9	San	San	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	_
10	Marino	Marino	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
12	laws	law	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | San's laws |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |

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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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