---
title: Why could a narrow pass help a small army against a huge one? — Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why could a narrow pass help a small army against a huge one? Test 11 of lesson 11 «Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens and Sparta» 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 11 · Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens and Sparta

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why could a narrow pass help a small army against a huge one?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** narrow pass · **What happens:** help · **To what, where:** small army

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This is test 11 of lesson 11 «Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens and Sparta» 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/11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t11:1
# text = Why could a narrow pass help a small army against a huge one?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	narrow	narrow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	pass	pass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	against	against	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | could | a narrow pass | a small army |  |  |  | against a huge one | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent army=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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 -->
Only a few enemies can fight at once there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t11:o1:1
# text = Only a few enemies can fight at once there
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	obl	_	_
9	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | can | a few enemies |  |  | there |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Big armies cannot see in mountains

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t11:o2:1
# text = Big armies cannot see in mountains
1	Big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	armies	army	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | can | Big armies |  |  | mountains |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pass was full of food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t11:o3:1
# text = The pass was full of food
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pass	pass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the pass |  |  |  |  | of food; full *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Narrow passes are always uphill both ways for enemies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t11:o4:1
# text = Narrow passes are always uphill both ways for enemies
1	Narrow	narrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	passes	pass	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	uphill	uphill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Narrow passes |  |  |  |  | for enemies; both ways *obl:unmarked*; always, uphill *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.

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