---
title: Identify the principal reason for which the year 1900 was not design… — Leap years and 29 February birthdays · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which the year 1900 was not designated a leap year. Exam question 2 of lesson 112 «Leap years and 29 February birthdays» of the world 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 2 · Leap years and 29 February birthdays

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which the year 1900 was not designated a leap year.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, not designate · **To what, where:** principal reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 112 «Leap years and 29 February birthdays» of the world 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/world/112-leap-years-and-29-february-birthdays/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:112-leap-years-and-29-february-birthdays:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which the year 1900 was not designated a leap year.
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	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	1900	1900	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	flat	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	designated	designate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	leap	leap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	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 |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **designate** | past · passive |  |  |  |  | year | for the principal reason | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP» |

<!-- .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 -->
It is not exactly divisible by 4

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:112-leap-years-and-29-february-birthdays:e2:o1:1
# text = It is not exactly divisible by 4
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	divisible	divisible	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	4	4	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **divisible** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  | by 4; exactly *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Leap years were not instituted until after 1900

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:112-leap-years-and-29-february-birthdays:e2:o2:1
# text = Leap years were not instituted until after 1900
1	Leap	leap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	instituted	institute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	until	until	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	after	after	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	1900	1900	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **institute** | past · passive |  | Leap years |  |  | until 1900 |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was omitted owing to an administrative error

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:112-leap-years-and-29-february-birthdays:e2:o3:1
# text = It was omitted owing to an administrative error
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	omitted	omit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	owing	owe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	administrative	administrative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	error	error	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **omit** | past · passive |  | It |  |  |  |  | vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **owe** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to a administrative error *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to error=Goal |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It concludes in 00 and is not exactly divisible by 400

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:112-leap-years-and-29-february-birthdays:e2:o4:1
# text = It concludes in 00 and is not exactly divisible by 400
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	concludes	conclude	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	00	00	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	2	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	divisible	divisible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	400	400	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conclude** | present | It |  |  | 00 |  | by 400 | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | divisible, exactly *property* | tree rules |

<!-- 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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