---
title: Why were camels better than horses for crossing deserts? — The Silk Road · tree and pragmatics
description: Why were camels better than horses for crossing deserts? Test 3 of lesson 28 «The Silk Road» 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 right.
---

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# Test 3 · The Silk Road

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why were camels better than horses for crossing deserts?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** camels

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 28 «The Silk Road» 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/28-the-silk-road/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t3:1
# text = Why were camels better than horses for crossing deserts?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	camels	camel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	1	advmod	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	crossing	crossing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	deserts	desert	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They go long without water and cope with heat and cold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t3:o1:1
# text = They go long without water and cope with heat and cold
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
4	without	without	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	cope	cope	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | They |  |  |  |  | without water; long *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **cope** | present | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with heat | vn cope-83-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with heat=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Camels are faster than any horse

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t3:o2:1
# text = Camels are faster than any horse
1	Camels	camel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Camels |  |  |  |  | than any horse; fast *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Camels could swim across rivers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t3:o3:1
# text = Camels could swim across rivers
1	Camels	camel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	swim	swim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	across	across	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swim** | could | Camels |  |  | rivers |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across river=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Horses were not allowed in deserts by the rulers who owned the oases

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t3:o4:1
# text = Horses were not allowed in deserts by the rulers who owned the oases
1	Horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	deserts	desert	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	rulers	ruler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
11	owned	own	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	oases	oasis	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **allow** | past · passive |  | Horses |  | deserts |  | by the rulers | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **own** | past | the rulers | the oases |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot oasis=Theme |

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**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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