---
title: Why did the Suez Canal make Egypt so important to Britain? — Canals: Suez, Panama and the shortcuts · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did the Suez Canal make Egypt so important to Britain? Test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 20 «Canals: Suez, Panama and the shortcuts» of the geography course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★★ · Canals: Suez, Panama and the shortcuts

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did the Suez Canal make Egypt so important to Britain?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Suez Canal · **What happens:** make · **To what, where:** Egypt

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 20 «Canals: Suez, Panama and the shortcuts» of the geography 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/geography/20-canals-suez-panama-and-the-shortcuts/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:20-canals-suez-panama-and-the-shortcuts:t9:1
# text = Why did the Suez Canal make Egypt so important to Britain?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Suez	Suez	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	Canal	Canal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	important	important	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past · do-support | the Suez Canal | Egypt |  |  |  | important *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egypt=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 -->
The canal was the only way to reach Australia

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:20-canals-suez-panama-and-the-shortcuts:t9:o1:1
# text = The canal was the only way to reach Australia
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	canal	canal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	Australia	Australia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the canal | the only way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **reach** | to-infinitive |  | Australia |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent australia=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Egypt sold Britain the cotton for all its mills, and only the canal could carry it

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:20-canals-suez-panama-and-the-shortcuts:t9:o2:1
# text = Egypt sold Britain the cotton for all its mills, and only the canal could carry it
1	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cotton	cotton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	9	det:predet	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	mills	mill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	canal	canal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | past | Egypt | the cotton | Britain |  |  | for cotton's mills | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent britain=Recipient cotton=Theme for mill=Asset |
| 2 | **carry** | could | the canal | cotton |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was the shortcut on the sea route to India

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:20-canals-suez-panama-and-the-shortcuts:t9:o3:1
# text = It was the shortcut on the sea route to India
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	shortcut	shortcut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	route	route	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | the shortcut |  | the sea route to India |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Britain needed the Nile for drinking water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:20-canals-suez-panama-and-the-shortcuts:t9:o4:1
# text = Britain needed the Nile for drinking water
1	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Nile	Nile	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	drinking	drink	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	amod	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | past | Britain | the Nile |  |  |  | for drinking water | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot nile=Theme |
| 2 | **drink** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | 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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- ← previous: [Canals: Suez, Panama and the shortcuts, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/20-canals-suez-panama-and-the-shortcuts/t8/)
- next →: [Canals: Suez, Panama and the shortcuts, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/20-canals-suez-panama-and-the-shortcuts/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Canals: Suez, Panama and the shortcuts](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/20-canals-suez-panama-and-the-shortcuts/)