---
title: Why did the alphabet suit Gutenberg's movable type so well? — China: the four great inventions · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did the alphabet suit Gutenberg's movable type so well? Test 11 of lesson 53 «China: the four great inventions» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/53-china-the-four-great-inventions/t11/)

<!-- 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/) / [China: the four great inventions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/53-china-the-four-great-inventions/) / t11

# Test 11 · China: the four great inventions

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did the alphabet suit Gutenberg's movable type so well?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** alphabet, Gutenberg · **What happens:** do, suit, type · **To what, where:** movable type

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 53 «China: the four great inventions» 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/53-china-the-four-great-inventions/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t11:1
# text = Why did the alphabet suit Gutenberg's movable type so well?
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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	suit	suit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	Gutenberg	Gutenberg	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	movable	movable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	type	type	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **suit** | present | the alphabet | Gutenberg's movable type |  |  |  | well *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **type** |  | Gutenberg |  |  |  |  |  | nom type «cognition transitive»: poss=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has only a few dozen letters to make

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t11:o1:1
# text = It has only a few dozen letters to make
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	dozen	dozen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | It | a few dozen letters |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | a few dozen letters *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The alphabet was Chinese

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t11:o2:1
# text = The alphabet was Chinese
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	alphabet	alphabet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the alphabet |  |  |  |  | chinese *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Letters are prettier

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t11:o3:1
# text = Letters are prettier
1	Letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	prettier	pretty	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Letters |  |  |  |  | pretty *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Europe had no wood

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t11:o4:1
# text = Europe had no wood
1	Europe	Europe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Europe | no wood |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wood=Patient |

<!-- 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: [China: the four great inventions, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/53-china-the-four-great-inventions/t10/)
- next →: [China: the four great inventions, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/53-china-the-four-great-inventions/e1/)
- ↑ back to [China: the four great inventions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/53-china-the-four-great-inventions/)