---
title: A friend says the Mongols could not take walled cities, they only fo… — The Mongols · tree and pragmatics
description: A friend says the Mongols could not take walled cities, they only fought in fields. What do you say? Test 10 · ★★ of lesson 23 «The Mongols» 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 10 · ★★ · The Mongols

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A friend says the Mongols could not take walled cities, they only fought in fields. What do you say?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** friend, Mongols, you · **What happens:** say, not take, wall, fight · **To what, where:** walled cities, fields · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 23 «The Mongols» 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/23-the-mongols/#t10).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A friend says the Mongols could not take walled cities, they only fought in fields.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t10:1
# text = A friend says the Mongols could not take walled cities, they only fought in fields.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Mongols	Mongol	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
9	walled	wall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
10	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	only	only	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	fought	fight	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **take** | could | the Mongols | walled cities |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent city=Theme |
| 3 | **wall** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **fight** | past | Mongols *= mongol* |  |  | fields |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 do you say?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t10:2
# text = What do you say?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Right, they never even tried to attack a city

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t10:o1:1
# text = Right, they never even tried to attack a city
1	Right	right	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	even	even	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	attack	attack	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **try** | participle | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **attack** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | they *not said here* | a city |  |  |  |  | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent city=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They could, using Chinese and Persian engineers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t10:o2:1
# text = They could, using Chinese and Persian engineers
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	using	use	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	Persian	persian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	engineers	engineer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | could | They | Chinese engineers |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent engineer=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Right, they had no weapons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t10:o3:1
# text = Right, they had no weapons
1	Right	right	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	weapons	weapon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | they | no weapons |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent weapon=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They only fought at sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t10:o4:1
# text = They only fought at sea
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	fought	fight	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

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

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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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