---
title: Why did China guard the secret of silk so carefully? — Horses, cattle, camels and chickens: h… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did China guard the secret of silk so carefully? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 293 «Horses, cattle, camels and chickens: how people tamed animals» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals/t11/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [Horses, cattle, camels and chickens: h…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals/) / t11

# Test 11 · ★★ · Horses, cattle, camels and chickens: how people tamed anim…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did China guard the secret of silk so carefully?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** China · **What happens:** guard · **To what, where:** secret

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 293 «Horses, cattle, camels and chickens: how people tamed animals» of the biology 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals:t11:1
# text = Why did China guard the secret of silk so carefully?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	guard	guard	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	carefully	carefully	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guard** | past · do-support | China | the secret of silk |  |  |  | carefully *property* | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent secret=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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 -->
Silk moths were dangerous and stung anyone who came near

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals:t11:o1:1
# text = Silk moths were dangerous and stung anyone who came near
1	Silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	moths	moth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	stung	sting	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
7	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	near	near	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Silk moths |  |  |  |  | dangerous *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **sting** | past | Silk moths *not said here* | anyone |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus anyone=Experiencer |
| 3 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody wanted silk, so they kept it hidden from shame

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals:t11:o2:1
# text = Nobody wanted silk, so they kept it hidden from shame
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	xcomp	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	shame	shame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | Nobody | silk |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot silk=Theme |
| 2 | **keep** | past | they | silk |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **hide** | participle | silk *not said here* |  |  | shame |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent from shame=Beneficiary |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Silk was precious and sold for a lot along trade routes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals:t11:o3:1
# text = Silk was precious and sold for a lot along trade routes
1	Silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	precious	precious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	sold	sell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	along	along	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	routes	route	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Silk |  |  |  |  | precious *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **sell** | participle | Silk *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for a lot; along trade routes | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for lot=Asset |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Silk was poisonous

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals:t11:o4:1
# text = Silk was poisonous
1	Silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Silk |  |  |  |  | poisonous *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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Horses, cattle, camels and chickens: h…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals/t10/)
- next →: [Horses, cattle, camels and chickens: h…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Horses, cattle, camels and chickens: how people tamed animals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals/)