---
title: Why did so many people die on the Middle Passage? — The Atlantic routes and the slave trade · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did so many people die on the Middle Passage? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 30 «The Atlantic routes and the slave trade» 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 3 · ★ · The Atlantic routes and the slave trade

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did so many people die on the Middle Passage?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** many people · **What happens:** die · **To what, where:** Middle Passage

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 30 «The Atlantic routes and the slave trade» 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/30-the-atlantic-routes-and-the-slave-trade/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:30-the-atlantic-routes-and-the-slave-trade:t3:1
# text = Why did so many people die on the Middle Passage?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	die	die	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Middle	Middle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Passage	Passage	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | present | many people |  |  | the Middle Passage |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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 -->
The ships nearly always sank in the Atlantic storms

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:30-the-atlantic-routes-and-the-slave-trade:t3:o1:1
# text = The ships nearly always sank in the Atlantic storms
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
3	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	Atlantic	Atlantic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	storms	storm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** | past |  | the ships |  | the Atlantic storms |  | always, nearly *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The crossing took only one day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:30-the-atlantic-routes-and-the-slave-trade:t3:o2:1
# text = The crossing took only one day
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	crossing	crossing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the crossing |  |  |  | day |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were given too much food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:30-the-atlantic-routes-and-the-slave-trade:t3:o3:1
# text = They were given too much food
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past · passive |  | They |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient food=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were chained in crowded, filthy holds for weeks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:30-the-atlantic-routes-and-the-slave-trade:t3:o4:1
# text = They were chained in crowded, filthy holds for weeks
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	chained	chain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	crowded	crowded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	filthy	filthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chain** | past · passive |  | They |  |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **hold** | present | crowded |  |  |  | week |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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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