---
title: «why'd anyone pay rent in pepper, that's mental» Why did it make sen… — Nuts, beans, seeds and spices · tree and pragmatics
description: «why'd anyone pay rent in pepper, that's mental» Why did it make sense in the Middle Ages? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 348 «Nuts, beans, seeds and spices» 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.
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Nuts, beans, seeds and spices

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«why'd anyone pay rent in pepper, that's mental» Why did it make sense in the Middle Ages?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** anyone, that, rent · **What happens:** pay, be, make · **To what, where:** rent, pepper, sense, Middle Ages

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 348 «Nuts, beans, seeds and spices» 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/348-nuts-beans-seeds-and-spices/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:348-nuts-beans-seeds-and-spices:t8:1
# text = «why'd anyone pay rent in pepper, that's mental» Why did it make sense in the Middle Ages?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	nsubj	_	_
5	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	rent	rent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	mental	mental	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
14	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
15	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
18	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	Middle	Middle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	flat	_	_
22	Ages	Age	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** *in a quote* | would | anyone | rent |  | pepper |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rent=Asset |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  |  | mental *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **make** | past · do-support | rent | sense |  |  | in the Middle Ages |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material sense=Product |

<!-- .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 -->
Landlords wanted to sneeze

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:348-nuts-beans-seeds-and-spices:t8:o1:1
# text = Landlords wanted to sneeze
1	Landlords	landlord	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	sneeze	sneeze	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | Landlords |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **sneeze** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Landlords *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pepper came from far away and was very valuable

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:348-nuts-beans-seeds-and-spices:t8:o2:1
# text = Pepper came from far away and was very valuable
1	Pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	valuable	valuable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | Pepper |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | Pepper *not said here* |  |  |  |  | valuable *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Money had not been invented

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:348-nuts-beans-seeds-and-spices:t8:o3:1
# text = Money had not been invented
1	Money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **invent** | past · perfect · passive |  | Money |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pepper was the only food people had left to eat in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:348-nuts-beans-seeds-and-spices:t8:o4:1
# text = Pepper was the only food people had left to eat in winter
1	Pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | past · perfect · passive |  | Pepper |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **eat** | to-infinitive | Pepper *not said here* |  |  |  | winter |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- 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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