---
title: Someone says Romans were just copiers and invented nothing. What is… — Rome: the empire, the legions and the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Someone says Romans were just copiers and invented nothing. What is a fair answer? Test 8 · ★ 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 8 · ★ · Rome: the empire, the legions and the roads

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Someone says Romans were just copiers and invented nothing. What is a fair answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Someone, Romans · **What happens:** say, be, invent · **To what, where:** copiers, nothing, fair answer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Someone says Romans were just copiers and invented nothing.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t8:1
# text = Someone says Romans were just copiers and invented nothing.
1	Someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Romans	Roman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	copiers	copier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	ccomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	obj	_	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 | Someone |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | Romans | copiers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **invent** | past | Someone *not said here* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Result |

<!-- .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:* What is a fair answer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t8:2
# text = What is a fair answer?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | a fair answer |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They made great use of arches, domes and concrete

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t8:o1:1
# text = They made great use of arches, domes and concrete
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	arches	arch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	domes	dome	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	concrete	concrete	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | They | great use of arches and domes and concrete |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset use=Product |
| 2 | **use** |  |  | arches and domes and concrete |  |  |  |  | nom use «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They invented the steam engine

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t8:o2:1
# text = They invented the steam engine
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	steam	steam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	engine	engine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past | They | the steam engine |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent engine=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They invented nothing useful at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t8:o3:1
# text = They invented nothing useful at all
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	obj	_	_
4	useful	useful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past | They | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They invented the wheel and fire long before anyone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:14-rome-the-empire-the-legions-and-the-roads:t8:o4:1
# text = They invented the wheel and fire long before anyone
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	wheel	wheel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
8	before	before	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past | They | the wheel and fire |  |  | before anyone | long *property* | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wheel=Result |

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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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- ↑ 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/)