What trade carried: tomatoes, tea, horses, words, religions and diseases

Tests: 5 of 12 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 7 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 71 of the history course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · right ✓

Luca leans over the fence: "Nah nonna, Italians always had tomatoes, that's just facts." ("Nonna" means grandma in Italian.) What does nonna know?

1. Tomatoes were invented in a laboratory in Naples in 1950 — score -2
2. Tomatoes came to Italy from China, brought back by Marco Polo in 1295 — score 9
3. Tomatoes came from the Americas and reached Italy only in the 1500s — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
4. Luca is right: the Romans already ate tomato pizza every day — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 11, against 9 for the next best. Its support: lesson 71, line 6: «Tomatoes come from the Americas; they reached Europe in the 1500s, Italians first grew them as curiosities, and tomato sauce became common in Italy only in the…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «tomatoes» (+5); the same action «come» (+4); the same place «americas» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · right ✓

Oksana goes, "Borshch has potatoes, so potatoes are proper Ukrainian, aren't they?" What's the right answer?

1. Yes, potatoes grew wild only in Ukraine and spread from there to the rest of the world — no support
2. Potatoes came from the Andes and spread to Ukraine in the 1700s and 1800s — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
3. Potatoes were brought to Ukraine by the Vikings in about 900 — no support
4. Potatoes came to Ukraine from Ireland back in Roman times — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 9, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 19, line 15: «Potatoes first came from the Andes and were later taken to Europe; the Andes peoples grew thousands of kinds of potatoes, freeze-dried them in the mountain col…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «andes» (+5); the same action «come» (+2); the same doer «potatoes» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

Ji-woo's friend: "Korean food's been spicy since forever, no cap." ("No cap" means no lie.) Ji-woo's halmeoni (grandma) shakes her head. Why?

1. Kimchi was only invented in 2005 for a cooking show on Korean television — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Koreans never ate chilli at all, not even today — no support
3. Chillies came from the Americas and red kimchi became common only in the 1700s — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Chillies are a Korean plant that was later taken to Mexico by Korean sailors — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · wrong ✗

Callum's Yorkshire gran: "Nowt more British than a cuppa, love." ("Nowt" means nothing.) What's the gentle correction?

1. Tea came to Britain from Brazil along with coffee — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Tea is Chinese; Britain only got it in the 1600s — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Gran is right, love: tea grows wild all over Yorkshire — no support
4. Tea was invented in a London shop in 1900 by a grocer — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · wrong ✗

Abdi's mate: "Coffee's from you? Fr? I thought Starbucks." ("Fr" means for real.) What is true?

1. Coffee came from Italy only, where espresso was born and later spread — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Coffee is really a kind of chocolate from Mexico — no support
3. Coffee drinking began in Ethiopia and Yemen centuries before any American café — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Your mate's right, fr: coffee was invented in Seattle by the first Starbucks — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · right ✓

Lucía's mate: "Money you can eat? Bussin'." ("Bussin'" means really tasty.) What did the Aztecs really do with cacao?

1. Ate sweet milk chocolate bars every single day, like we do now — no support
2. Burned the beans as fuel to keep their houses and temples warm at night — no support
3. Used beans as money and drank chocolate, often bitter and spicy — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
4. Fed the beans only to their horses and cattle — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 11, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 71, line 12: «People in Mexico and Central America drank chocolate, often bitter and spicy, for thousands of years; the Aztecs used cacao beans as money, and an English firm…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «use» (+4); the same circumstance (+4); the same thing acted on «cacao beans» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · right ✓

In a western film, Plains peoples gallop on horses. Ben's cousin says, "They had horses since the Ice Age, deffo." What's more exact?

1. Horses were never ridden by Plains peoples; the films made it up — no support
2. Horses came to America with the Vikings in about the year 1000, on longships — score 4
3. Horses died out there and came back with the Spanish, then spread fast — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. Yes, the very same horses lived there for ever and were never gone — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 71, line 13: «Horses died out in the Americas about 10,000 years ago and came back with the Spanish in the 1500s; peoples like the Comanche and Lakota became great horse rid…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «come back» (+2); the same doer «horses» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · wrong ✗

Jack's teacher says, "Sugar has a sad history." Jack: "How can sweets be sad, innit?" What does she mean?

1. Sugar was always free for everyone, so farmers were poor — no support
2. Sugar was only grown by kings, who kept it all for themselves — ← Mova's choice · score 3
3. Sugar makes people cry when they eat too much of it — no support
4. Sugar was grown on plantations worked by enslaved Africans — ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 2 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 71, line 3: «In Europa Universalis a province simply «produces sugar» or «produces tea» from 1444, as if it always had; in real life many of those crops had only just arriv…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «grow» (+2); the same thing acted on «sugar» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · right ✓

In Europa Universalis, Mateo's Spain conquers the Aztecs with a few clicks and a big army. What does the game leave out?

1. The Aztecs had no army at all and never fought back — no support
2. Nothing, the game shows exactly what happened — no support
3. Spain really had millions of soldiers there, many more than the Aztecs did — no support
4. Diseases like smallpox killed huge numbers before and during the fighting — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 71, line 4: «Trade carried invisible things too: words like «tea» and «chai», religions like Islam to Indonesia, and diseases like smallpox, which killed far more people in…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «kill» (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+1). Against it: the same thing acted on «more people» (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · wrong ✗

Ava says "tea", her Turkish friend says "çay", her Portuguese friend says "chá". What story do the words tell?

1. They show which routes tea travelled on, by sea or by land — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Tea was first grown in Turkey and its name spread west from there — ← Mova's choice · score 8
3. All three were made up by one king who loved tea — no support
4. They are random sounds with no history behind them at all — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 60, line 1: «Mei says China invented everything: paper, football, ice cream. Danylo says Ukraine is the oldest and greatest. The history teacher smiles, because every count…», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «china» (+4). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · wrong ✗

Aisha: "Indonesia's got the most Muslims? But it's nowhere near Arabia, wallahi." ("Wallahi" means I swear.) Why is it true?

1. It isn't true, wallahi: Saudi Arabia has the most Muslims — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Arabian armies sailed over and conquered all of Indonesia by force — no support
3. Traders and teachers carried Islam across the sea from the 1200s — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Indonesia was once a part of Arabia, joined by land — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · wrong ✗

What would have happened if ships had never crossed the Atlantic after 1492?

1. Nothing would change in any kitchen — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Italy would have more tomatoes — no support
3. Tea would never have reached Britain — no support
4. Europe, Asia and Africa would have no tomatoes, potatoes, chillies or cacao — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the region in which the potato was first domesticated.

1. The Nile valley of ancient Egypt — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The Andes of South America — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The island of Ireland — no support
4. The plains of Ukraine — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the labour employed upon the sugar plantations of the Caribbean from the sixteenth century?

1. It was performed principally by enslaved Africans — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It was performed principally by monastic orders — no support
3. It was performed principally by machinery — no support
4. It was performed principally by salaried European farmers — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the dissemination of the word for tea.

1. All forms derive from the Turkish language — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. All forms derive from a decree of the English Crown — no support
3. Forms resembling «tea» travelled by sea and forms resembling «chai» travelled by land — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The word was invented independently in each language — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the principal means whereby Islam was conveyed to the Indonesian archipelago.

1. Through the Spanish voyages of the sixteenth century — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Through a single military conquest by Arabian armies — no support
3. Through radio broadcasts in the twentieth century — no support
4. Through merchants and teachers from the thirteenth century onwards — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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