---
title: Why was Malacca a perfect place for a port? — The spice trade and the Indian Ocean · tree and pragmatics
description: Why was Malacca a perfect place for a port? Test 6 · ★ 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 right.
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · The spice trade and the Indian Ocean

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why was Malacca a perfect place for a port?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t6:1
# text = Why was Malacca a perfect place for a port?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	Malacca	Malacca	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	perfect	perfect	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	port	port	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	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 |  | Malacca |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
Every ship between India and China passed through its strait

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t6:o1:1
# text = Every ship between India and China passed through its strait
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	between	between	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	strait	strait	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past | every ship between India and China |  |  | ship's strait |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through strait=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It lay in the middle of a desert

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t6:o2:1
# text = It lay in the middle of a desert
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past | It |  |  | the middle of a desert |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in middle=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was far from every trade route, so it was safe from pirates

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t6:o3:1
# text = It was far from every trade route, so it was safe from pirates
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
6	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	route	route	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	pirates	pirate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  | every trade route |  | far *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | route |  |  | pirates |  | safe *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It had the coldest and cleanest water in the whole of Asia

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean:t6:o4:1
# text = It had the coldest and cleanest water in the whole of Asia
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	coldest	cold	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	cleanest	clean	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	conj	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Asia	Asia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | It | the coldest water |  | the whole Asia |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient |

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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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- next →: [The spice trade and the Indian Ocean, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean/t7/)
- ↑ 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/)