---
title: Why did Sparta need the helots? — Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did Sparta need the helots? Test 5 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 5 · Ancient Greece: city-states, Athens and Sparta

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did Sparta need the helots?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Sparta · **What happens:** need · **To what, where:** helots

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t5:1
# text = Why did Sparta need the helots?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	Sparta	Sparta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	helots	helot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | past · do-support | Sparta | the helots |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot helot=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
The helots were their teachers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t5:o1:1
# text = The helots were their teachers
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	helots	helot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	teachers	teacher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the helots | helots's teachers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sparta had no land at all to farm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t5:o2:1
# text = Sparta had no land at all to farm
1	Sparta	Sparta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	obl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	farm	farm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Sparta | no land |  | all |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent land=Patient |
| 2 | **farm** | to-infinitive | Sparta *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn rear-26.2.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Spartans trained as soldiers and did not farm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t5:o3:1
# text = The Spartans trained as soldiers and did not farm
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Spartans	Spartan	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	trained	train	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **train** | past | the Spartans |  |  |  |  | as soldiers | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as soldier=Attribute |
| 2 | **do** | past | the Spartans *not said here* | farm |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent farm=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The helots were the kings and rulers of Sparta

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta:t5:o4:1
# text = The helots were the kings and rulers of Sparta
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	helots	helot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	kings	king	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	rulers	ruler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Sparta	Sparta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the helots | the kings and rulers of Sparta |  |  |  |  | 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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