---
title: Why do camels suit desert caravans better than horses? — Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk R… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do camels suit desert caravans better than horses? Test 7 · ★★ of lesson 10 «Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius» of the history 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 7 · ★★ · Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do camels suit desert caravans better than horses?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** camels · **What happens:** suit

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 10 «Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius» of the history 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/history/10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t7:1
# text = Why do camels suit desert caravans better than horses?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	camels	camel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	suit	suit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	caravans	caravan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	ccomp	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suit** | present · do-support | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They can fly over the tallest dunes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t7:o1:1
# text = They can fly over the tallest dunes
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	over	over	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	tallest	tall	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	dunes	dune	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | can | They |  |  | the tallest dunes |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over dune=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They never need any food or water at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t7:o2:1
# text = They never need any food or water at all
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | present | They | any food or water |  | all |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot food=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They can go a long time without drinking

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t7:o3:1
# text = They can go a long time without drinking
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	drinking	drink	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | can | They |  |  |  | time |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **drink** | gerund | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are faster than any horse or car

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t7:o4:1
# text = They are faster than any horse or car
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

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

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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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- ← previous: [Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk R…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius/t6/)
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- ↑ back to [Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius/)