Test 8 · ★★ · Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius
People in Zheng He's time had never seen a giraffe. Why bring one home?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: People, you · What happens: not be, bring · To what, where: one home
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 10 «Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius» 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.
The question
Sentence 1: People in Zheng He's time had never seen a giraffe.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | People | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 seen | nsubj |
| 2 | in | in | ADP | _ | 3 Zheng | case |
| 3 | Zheng | Zheng | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 People | nmod |
| 4 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 seen | nsubj |
| 5 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 seen | cop |
| 6 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 seen | obl:unmarked |
| 7 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 seen | aux |
| 8 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 9 seen | advmod |
| 9 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 giraffe | det |
| 11 | giraffe | giraffe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 seen | obj |
| 12 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 seen | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not is | present · perfect | People in Zheng | time | see property | tree rules |
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.
Sentence 2: Why bring one home?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 2 bring | advmod |
| 2 | bring | bring | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 4 home | nummod |
| 4 | home | home | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 bring | obj |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 2 bring | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bring | imperative | you not said here | one home | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent home=Theme |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
It was a wonderful gift from a far land
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 gift | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 gift | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 gift | det |
| 4 | wonderful | wonderful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 gift | amod |
| 5 | gift | gift | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | from | from | ADP | _ | 9 land | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 land | det |
| 8 | far | far | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 land | amod |
| 9 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 gift | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | It | a wonderful gift | a far land | tree rules |
Option 2
To use it to pull the emperor's carts
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | To | to | PART | _ | 2 use | mark |
| 2 | use | use | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 use | obj |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 pull | mark |
| 5 | pull | pull | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 use | advcl |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 emperor | det |
| 7 | emperor | emperor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 carts | nmod:poss |
| 8 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 7 emperor | case |
| 9 | carts | cart | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 pull | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | use | to-infinitive | it | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient | |||||
| 2 | pull | to-infinitive | the emperor's carts | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cart=Theme |
Option 3
To eat it at a great feast
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | To | to | PART | _ | 2 eat | mark |
| 2 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 eat | obj |
| 4 | at | at | ADP | _ | 7 feast | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 feast | det |
| 6 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 feast | amod |
| 7 | feast | feast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 eat | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | eat | to-infinitive | it | a great feast | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
Option 4
To guard the emperor's palace door at night
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | To | to | PART | _ | 2 guard | mark |
| 2 | guard | guard | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 emperor | det |
| 4 | emperor | emperor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 door | nmod:poss |
| 5 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 4 emperor | case |
| 6 | palace | palace | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 door | compound |
| 7 | door | door | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 guard | obj |
| 8 | at | at | ADP | _ | 9 night | case |
| 9 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 guard | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | guard | to-infinitive | the emperor's palace door | night | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent door=Beneficiary |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius/t8/