---
title: Identify the principal reason for the decline of trial by ordeal in… — Rules, courts, police, taxes and armie… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for the decline of trial by ordeal in medieval Europe after 1215. Exam question 1 of lesson 68 «Rules, courts, police, taxes and armies through time» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opti
---

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# Exam question 1 · Rules, courts, police, taxes and armies through time

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for the decline of trial by ordeal in medieval Europe after 1215.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, trial · **What happens:** identify, decline · **To what, where:** principal reason, medieval Europe

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 68 «Rules, courts, police, taxes and armies through time» 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/68-rules-courts-police-taxes-and-armies-through-time/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:68-rules-courts-police-taxes-and-armies-through-time:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for the decline of trial by ordeal in medieval Europe after 1215.
1	Identify	identify	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	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	decline	decline	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	trial	trial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	ordeal	ordeal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	medieval	medieval	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	Europe	Europe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
15	after	after	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	1215	1215	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  | medieval Europe | after 1215 | for the decline of trial; by ordeal | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **decline** |  | trial |  |  |  |  |  | nom decline «process intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Parliament abolished all courts of law in the kingdom

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:68-rules-courts-police-taxes-and-armies-through-time:e1:o1:1
# text = Parliament abolished all courts of law in the kingdom
1	Parliament	Parliament	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	abolished	abolish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	courts	court	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **abolish** | past | Parliament | all courts of law |  | the kingdom |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent court=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Juries were prohibited by a decree of the king

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:68-rules-courts-police-taxes-and-armies-through-time:e1:o2:1
# text = Juries were prohibited by a decree of the king
1	Juries	jury	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	decree	decree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prohibit** | past · passive | a decree of the king | Juries |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme |
| 2 | **decree** |  | the king |  |  |  |  |  | nom decree «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Trial by ordeal was proven always to be correct

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:68-rules-courts-police-taxes-and-armies-through-time:e1:o3:1
# text = Trial by ordeal was proven always to be correct
1	Trial	trial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	ordeal	ordeal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	proven	prove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	correct	correct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** | past · passive |  | Trial by ordeal |  |  |  | always *property* | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | correct *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **try** |  | ordeal |  |  |  |  |  | nom trial «act transitive»: by=agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Church instructed priests to cease participation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:68-rules-courts-police-taxes-and-armies-through-time:e1:o4:1
# text = The Church instructed priests to cease participation
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Church	Church	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	instructed	instruct	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	priests	priest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	cease	cease	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
7	participation	participation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **instruct** *speech: other* | past | the Church | priests |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent priest=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **cease** | to-infinitive | the Church *not said here* | participation |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality participation=Eventuality |

<!-- div src -->

**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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