---
title: People in Zheng He's time had never seen a giraffe. Why bring one ho… — Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk R… · tree and pragmatics
description: People in Zheng He's time had never seen a giraffe. Why bring one home? Test 8 · ★★ 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 rig
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk Road and Confucius

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People in Zheng He's time had never seen a giraffe. Why bring one home?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** People, you · **What happens:** not be, bring · **To what, where:** one home

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

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* People in Zheng He's time had never seen a giraffe.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t8:1
# text = People in Zheng He's time had never seen a giraffe.
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	Zheng	Zheng	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	giraffe	giraffe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present · perfect | People in Zheng |  |  |  | time | see *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:* Why bring one home?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t8:2
# text = Why bring one home?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	bring	bring	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring** | imperative | you *not said here* | one home |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent home=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a wonderful gift from a far land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t8:o1:1
# text = It was a wonderful gift from a far land
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	far	far	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | a wonderful gift |  | a far land |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To use it to pull the emperor's carts

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t8:o2:1
# text = To use it to pull the emperor's carts
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	use	use	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	emperor	emperor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	carts	cart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | to-infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **pull** | to-infinitive |  | the emperor's carts |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cart=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To eat it at a great feast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t8:o3:1
# text = To eat it at a great feast
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | to-infinitive |  | it |  | a great feast |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To guard the emperor's palace door at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius:t8:o4:1
# text = To guard the emperor's palace door at night
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	guard	guard	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	emperor	emperor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guard** | to-infinitive |  | the emperor's palace door |  |  | night |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent door=Beneficiary |

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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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- ← previous: [Ancient China: paper, silk, the Silk R…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/10-ancient-china-paper-silk-the-silk-road-and-confucius/t7/)
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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/)