---
title: Why did Mongol children learn to ride at three or four? — The Mongols · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did Mongol children learn to ride at three or four? Test 9 · ★★ 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.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · The Mongols

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did Mongol children learn to ride at three or four?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mongol children · **What happens:** do, learn, ride · **To what, where:** three

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t9:1
# text = Why did Mongol children learn to ride at three or four?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Mongol	mongol	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	learn	learn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	ride	ride	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	obl	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **learn** | present | Mongol children |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **ride** | to-infinitive | Mongol children *not said here* |  |  | three |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a Chinese custom

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t9:o1:1
# text = It was a Chinese custom
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	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	custom	custom	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 Chinese custom |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their whole way of life on the steppe depended on horses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t9:o2:1
# text = Their whole way of life on the steppe depended on horses
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	steppe	steppe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	depended	depend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **depend** | past | Their whole way of life on the steppe |  |  |  |  | on horses | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent on horse=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Horses were their only toys by law

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t9:o3:1
# text = Horses were their only toys by law
1	Horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	toys	toy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Horses | Horses's toys |  |  |  | by law | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They had no legs strong enough to walk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:23-the-mongols:t9:o4:1
# text = They had no legs strong enough to walk
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
6	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | They | no legs |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient |
| 2 | **walk** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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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