---
title: Why were tiny islands like Banda so important? — The spice trade and the Indian Ocean · tree and pragmatics
description: Why were tiny islands like Banda so important? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 29 «The spice trade and the Indian Ocean» 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 5 · ★ · The spice trade and the Indian Ocean

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why were tiny islands like Banda so important?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** tiny islands

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 29 «The spice trade and the Indian Ocean» 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/29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t5:1
# text = Why were tiny islands like Banda so important?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Banda	Banda	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	important	important	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | tiny islands |  |  |  | like Banda | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They held the biggest gold mines in all of Asia

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t5:o1:1
# text = They held the biggest gold mines in all of Asia
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	biggest	big	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	amod	_	_
5	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	mines	mine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Asia	Asia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past | They | the biggest gold mines |  | all |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent mine=Theme in all=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were the capitals of great empires

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t5:o2:1
# text = They were the capitals of great empires
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	capitals	capital	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	empires	empire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They had the best harbours for whaling

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t5:o3:1
# text = They had the best harbours for whaling
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	harbours	harbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	whaling	whaling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | They | the best harbours |  |  |  | for whaling | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harbour=Patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were almost the only places nutmeg grew

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t5:o4:1
# text = They were almost the only places nutmeg grew
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	nutmeg	nutmeg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | They | the only places |  |  |  | almost *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | past | nutmeg | the only places *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location place=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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- ↑ back to [The spice trade and the Indian Ocean](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean/)