---
title: If the Underground Railroad had no trains or tracks, why was it call… — Slavery and its abolition · tree and pragmatics
description: If the Underground Railroad had no trains or tracks, why was it called a railroad? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 31 «Slavery and its abolition» 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 3 · ★ · Slavery and its abolition

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If the Underground Railroad had no trains or tracks, why was it called a railroad?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Underground Railroad · **What happens:** have, call · **To what, where:** trains, Railroad · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 31 «Slavery and its abolition» 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/31-slavery-and-its-abolition/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:31-slavery-and-its-abolition:t3:1
# text = If the Underground Railroad had no trains or tracks, why was it called a railroad?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Underground	Underground	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	Railroad	Railroad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
7	trains	train	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	tracks	track	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	railroad	railroad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the Underground Railroad | no trains or tracks |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent train=Patient |
| 2 | **call** | past · passive |  | Railroad |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody knows any reason

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:31-slavery-and-its-abolition:t3:o1:1
# text = Nobody knows any reason
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | Nobody | any reason |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer reason=Stimulus |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It used railway words in secret, like stations and conductors

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:31-slavery-and-its-abolition:t3:o2:1
# text = It used railway words in secret, like stations and conductors
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	railway	railway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	like	like	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	stations	station	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	conductors	conductor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | It | railway words |  | secret |  | like stations and conductors | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It really was a long train that ran under the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:31-slavery-and-its-abolition:t3:o3:1
# text = It really was a long train that ran under the ground
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	really	really	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	train	train	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	under	under	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | a long train |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **run** | past | a long train |  |  | the ground |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under ground=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was owned by a big railway company in New York

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:31-slavery-and-its-abolition:t3:o4:1
# text = It was owned by a big railway company in New York
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	owned	own	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	railway	railway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:agent	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	New	New	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	flat	_	_
11	York	York	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **own** | past · passive | a big railway company in New York | It |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=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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