---
title: Why did merchants once sell oracle bones in medicine shops? — China: five thousand years and the old… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did merchants once sell oracle bones in medicine shops? Test 9 of lesson 51 «China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties» 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 · China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did merchants once sell oracle bones in medicine shops?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** merchants · **What happens:** do, sell · **To what, where:** oracle bones, medicine shops

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This is test 9 of lesson 51 «China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties» 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/51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:t9:1
# text = Why did merchants once sell oracle bones in medicine shops?
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	merchants	merchant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	_
5	sell	sell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	oracle	oracle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	medicine	medicine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	shops	shop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sell** | present | merchants | oracle bones |  | medicine shops |  | once *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
They tasted of honey

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:t9:o1:1
# text = They tasted of honey
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tasted	taste	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	honey	honey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **taste** | past | They |  |  |  |  | of honey | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were made of gold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:t9:o2:1
# text = They were made of gold
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past · passive |  | They |  |  |  | of gold | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were silkworm cocoons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:t9:o3:1
# text = They were silkworm cocoons
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	silkworm	silkworm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	cocoons	cocoon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | They | silkworm cocoons |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People thought they were «dragon bones»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties:t9:o4:1
# text = People thought they were «dragon bones»
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | People |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | People | dragon bones |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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- ↑ back to [China: five thousand years and the oldest dynasties](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/51-china-five-thousand-years-the-oldest-dynasties/)