---
title: Why was it easier to carry silk from China to Europe in 1300 than in… — The Mongols · tree and pragmatics
description: Why was it easier to carry silk from China to Europe in 1300 than in 1200? Test 4 · ★★ 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 wrong.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/23-the-mongols/t4/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [History](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/) / [The Mongols](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/23-the-mongols/) / t4

# Test 4 · ★★ · The Mongols

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why was it easier to carry silk from China to Europe in 1300 than in 1200?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** it · **What happens:** be, carry · **To what, where:** silk, Europe, China

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t4:1
# text = Why was it easier to carry silk from China to Europe in 1300 than in 1200?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	easier	easy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Europe	Europe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	1300	1300	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	obl	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	1200	1200	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **carry** | to-infinitive |  | silk | Europe | China |  | in 1300 than 1200 | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Agent silk=Theme from china=Initial\_Location to europe=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
Someone built a long motorway across the desert

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t4:o1:1
# text = Someone built a long motorway across the desert
1	Someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
2	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	motorway	motorway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	across	across	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past | Someone | a long motorway |  | the desert |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent motorway=Product |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One power controlled most of the Silk Road and kept it safe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t4:o2:1
# text = One power controlled most of the Silk Road and kept it safe
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	controlled	control	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	Silk	Silk	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	Road	Road	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **control** | past | One power | most of the Silk Road |  |  |  |  | vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent most=Theme |
| 2 | **keep** | past | One power *not said here* | power |  |  |  | safe *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Silk became lighter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t4:o3:1
# text = Silk became lighter
1	Silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | Silk |  |  |  |  | light *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sea between them dried up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t4:o4:1
# text = The sea between them dried up
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	between	between	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nmod	_	_
5	dried	dry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dry up** | participle · passive |  | the sea between them |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [The Mongols, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/23-the-mongols/t3/)
- next →: [The Mongols, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/23-the-mongols/t5/)
- ↑ back to [The Mongols](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/23-the-mongols/)