---
title: Why would star records kept for centuries be useful? — Mesopotamia: wheels, laws and empires · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would star records kept for centuries be useful? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 4 «Mesopotamia: wheels, laws and empires» 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 9 · ★ · Mesopotamia: wheels, laws and empires

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would star records kept for centuries be useful?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** keep, be · **To what, where:** star records

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 4 «Mesopotamia: wheels, laws and empires» 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/4-mesopotamia-wheels-laws-and-empires/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:4-mesopotamia-wheels-laws-and-empires:t9:1
# text = Why would star records kept for centuries be useful?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	records	record	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	csubj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	centuries	century	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	useful	useful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | would · passive |  | star records |  |  | century |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | useful *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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They help make calendars and predict the sky

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:4-mesopotamia-wheels-laws-and-empires:t9:o1:1
# text = They help make calendars and predict the sky
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	help	help	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	calendars	calendar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	predict	predict	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** |  | They | calendars |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset calendar=Product |
| 2 | **predict** | infinitive | They *not said here* | the sky |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot sky=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They help find lost sheep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:4-mesopotamia-wheels-laws-and-empires:t9:o2:1
# text = They help find lost sheep
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
4	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **find** | infinitive | They *not said here* | lost sheep |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sheep=Topic |
| 3 | **lose** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They show where to dig for gold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:4-mesopotamia-wheels-laws-and-empires:t9:o3:1
# text = They show where to dig for gold
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	5	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	dig	dig	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **dig** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | for gold | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent for gold=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They tell you the weather tomorrow exactly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:4-mesopotamia-wheels-laws-and-empires:t9:o4:1
# text = They tell you the weather tomorrow exactly
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	iobj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	tomorrow	tomorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | They |  | you |  | tomorrow | exactly *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |

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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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