---
title: uncle says nero fiddled while rome burned. true? — Rome: the empire, the legions and the… · tree and pragmatics
description: uncle says nero fiddled while rome burned. true? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 14 «Rome: the empire, the legions and the roads» 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 1 · ★ · Rome: the empire, the legions and the roads

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
uncle says nero fiddled while rome burned. true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** uncle, rome · **What happens:** say, fiddle, burn · **To what, where:** nero · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 14 «Rome: the empire, the legions and the roads» 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/14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t1:1
# text = uncle says nero fiddled while rome burned. true?
1	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	nero	nero	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	fiddled	fiddle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	rome	rome	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	burned	burn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
9	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | uncle | nero |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nero=Topic |
| 2 | **fiddle** | participle |  | nero *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn trifle-105.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **burn** | past | rome |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
Yes, he played a long violin solo from the palace roof

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t1:o1:1
# text = Yes, he played a long violin solo from the palace roof
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	violin	violin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	solo	solo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | past | he | a long violin solo |  | the palace roof |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent solo=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, the fiddle had not even been invented

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t1:o2:1
# text = No, the fiddle had not even been invented
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fiddle	fiddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
7	even	even	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **invent** | past · perfect · passive |  | the fiddle |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, and the Senate clapped

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t1:o3:1
# text = Yes, and the Senate clapped
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Senate	Senate	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	clapped	clap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clap** | past | the Senate |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, he played the drums

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t1:o4:1
# text = No, he played the drums
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	drums	drum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | past | he | the drums |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drum=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Rome: from a town on seven hills to a…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/13-rome-from-seven-hills-to-a-republic/e4/)
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- ↑ back to [Rome: the empire, the legions and the roads](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads/)