---
title: Why was the shadow snake at Chichen Itza clever? — The Maya · tree and pragmatics
description: Why was the shadow snake at Chichen Itza clever? Test 10 · ★★ of lesson 18 «The Maya» 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 10 · ★★ · The Maya

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why was the shadow snake at Chichen Itza clever?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** shadow snake · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 18 «The Maya» 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/18-the-maya/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:t10:1
# text = Why was the shadow snake at Chichen Itza clever?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Chichen	Chichen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
8	Itza	Itza	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	flat	_	_
9	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the shadow snake |  |  |  |  | why *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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a real snake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:t10:o1:1
# text = It was a real snake
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	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It showed how well the Maya knew the sun's movements

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:t10:o2:1
# text = It showed how well the Maya knew the sun's movements
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
4	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Maya	Maya	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	movements	movement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **know** | past | the Maya | the sun's movements |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer movement=Stimulus |
| 3 | **move** |  | the sun |  |  |  |  |  | nom movement «act transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was made by Spanish priests

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:t10:o3:1
# text = It was made by Spanish priests
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	priests	priest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past · passive | Spanish priests | It |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset subject=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was painted on every day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:18-the-maya:t10:o4:1
# text = It was painted on every day
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	painted	paint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **paint** | past · passive |  | It |  |  | day |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination |

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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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