---
title: A teacher says Marco Polo's book is exact in every detail. Is that r… — The Silk Road · tree and pragmatics
description: A teacher says Marco Polo's book is exact in every detail. Is that right? Test 8 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 8 · The Silk Road

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A teacher says Marco Polo's book is exact in every detail. Is that right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** teacher, book, that · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** detail · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A teacher says Marco Polo's book is exact in every detail.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t8:1
# text = A teacher says Marco Polo's book is exact in every detail.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	Marco	Marco	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	_
5	Polo	Polo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
7	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	exact	exact	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	detail	detail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | Marco's book |  |  | every detail |  | exact *property* | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Is that right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t8:2
# text = Is that right?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, the book was written in 1877

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t8:o1:1
# text = No, the book was written in 1877
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	1877	1877	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past · passive |  | the book |  | 1877 |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in 1877=Destination |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, some details are doubted, though it was very influential

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t8:o2:1
# text = No, some details are doubted, though it was very influential
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	details	detail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	doubted	doubt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	very	very	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	influential	influential	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **doubt** | present · passive |  | some details |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | influential *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, every single word in it has been proved true by historians

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t8:o3:1
# text = Yes, every single word in it has been proved true by historians
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	10	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
4	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nmod	_	_
8	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	proved	prove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	xcomp	_	_
12	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	historians	historian	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl:agent	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** | present · perfect · passive | historians | every single word in it |  |  |  | true *property* | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, he took photographs to prove it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t8:o4:1
# text = Yes, he took photographs to prove it
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	photographs	photograph	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	prove	prove	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | he | photographs |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent photograph=Theme |
| 2 | **prove** | to-infinitive | he *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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.

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