TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given passages that contain mentions of names of people, places, or things. Some of these mentions refer to the same person, place, or thing. Your job is to write questions that evaluate one's understanding of such references. Good questions are expected to link pronouns (she, her, him, his, their, etc.) or other mentions to people, places, or things to which they may refer. Do not ask questions that can be answered correctly without understanding the paragraph or having multiple answers. Avoid questions that do not link phrases referring to the same entity. For each of your questions, the answer should be one or more phrases in the paragraph, and it should be unambiguous.
PROBLEM: Passage: Ethiopian historians such as Taddesse Tamrat (19352013) and Sergew Hable Sellassie have argued that modern Ethiopian studies were an invention of the 17th century and originated in Europe. Tamrat considered Carlo Conti Rossini's 1928 Storia d'Etiopia a groundbreaking work in Ethiopian studies. The philosopher Messay Kebede likewise acknowledged the genuine contributions of Western scholars to the understanding of Ethiopia's past. But he also criticized the perceived scientific and institutional bias that he found to be pervasive in Ethiopian-, African-, and Western-made historiographies on Ethiopia. Specifically, Kebede took umbrage at E. A. Wallis Budge's translation of the Kebra Nagast, arguing that Budge had assigned a South Arabian origin to the Queen of Sheba although the Kebra Nagast itself did not indicate such a provenience for this fabled ruler. According to Kebede, a South Arabian extraction was contradicted by biblical exegetes and testimonies from ancient historians, which instead indicated that the Queen was of African origin. Additionally, he chided Budge and Ullendorff for their postulation that the Aksumite civilization was founded by Semitic immigrants from South Arabia. Kebede argued that there is little physical difference between the Semitic-speaking populations in Ethiopia and neighboring Cushitic-speaking groups to validate the notion that the former groups were essentially descendants of South Arabian settlers, with a separate ancestral origin from other local Afroasiatic-speaking populations. He also observed that these Afroasiatic-speaking populations were heterogeneous, having interbred with each other and also assimilated alien elements of both uncertain extraction and negroid origin.

SOLUTION: What are the full names of the two Ethiopian historians that have argued that modern Ethiopian studies were an invention the the 17th century?

PROBLEM: Passage: The 19th-century antiquarian Angharad Llwyd, who wrote a history of Anglesey in 1833, recorded the story noted by Gerald of Wales in the late 12th century that the church once possessed a stone "resembling a human thigh" which would return "of its own accord" however far away it was carried. It was sometimes known as the "homing stone". Gerald said that Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester (who died in 1101) had tested this story by throwing the stone into the sea, chained to a large rock, only to discover that the stone had returned by the next morning. As a result, the Norman earl issued an order that no-one was to attempt to move it. It was popularly believed that if a couple had sexual intercourse near the stone (something that Gerald said happened "frequently"), it would "sweat large drops of water" and the woman would not become pregnant. Henry Rowlands wrote that the stone had been stolen from the wall of the churchyard (into which it had been set) during his time at St Nidan's.When Rowlands was vicar of St Nidan's, a small chest was found buried about 2 feet (60 cm) under the altar, containing some bone pieces. His view was that it contained the relics of a saint from St Nidan's or another church in the region (St Beuno's Church, Clynnog Fawr or St Dwynwen's Church, Llanddwyn), and that the chest had placed in St Nidan's during the time of Edward VI for safe keeping. The sandstone reliquary is now kept at the new church, where local tradition maintains that it holds the remains of St Nidan. Jones said that it was "unique, as far as Wales is concerned." The 13th-century font, which Jones described as "a singularly beautiful specimen", was moved to the new church in about 1860.

SOLUTION: What is the full name of the person who died in 1101?

PROBLEM: Passage: Ann Sutton, the wife of Dr. William Sutton, a successful psychoanalyst, is arrested for shoplifting. Ann is saved from scandal by smooth-talking hypnotist David Korvo. Korvo persuades the store officials to put the mermaid pin she stole on her credit account, and not prosecute. He pressures her into coming to lunch with him, and she is relieved when, instead of accepting the blackmail payment she thinks he is after, he tears up her check and the store record of her shoplifting, and promises to help her.
Ann is anguished about her secret, but feels she must hide all negative feelings from her husband and appear to him as a happy, supportive wife. This is taking a toll on her, and she is unable to sleep well. She attends a sophisticated party with Korvo, where he has words with one Theresa Randolph, who has clearly had an affair and a bitter breakup with him (and is now Dr. Sutton's patient). Korvo hypnotizes Ann and instructs her to sleep well, which works, but, significantly, he cannot make her obey his order to put her hand in his.
Ann meets Korvo at the hotel where he lives for what she thinks are further therapy sessions, but refuses to go up to his suite and insists on talking in public in the hotel bar. Korvo distracts her and takes the martini glass with her fingerprints on it and her scarf.

SOLUTION:
What is the last name of the person who stole something?