---
title: «English just stole tea» says Mei, dead angry. What do historians say? — China: the four great inventions · tree and pragmatics
description: «English just stole tea» says Mei, dead angry. What do historians say? Test 9 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · China: the four great inventions

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«English just stole tea» says Mei, dead angry. What do historians say?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** English, Mei, historians · **What happens:** steal, say · **To what, where:** tea · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «English just stole tea» says Mei, dead angry.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t9:1
# text = «English just stole tea» says Mei, dead angry.
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	stole	steal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
5	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
7	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	Mei	Mei	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **steal** *in a quote* | past | English | tea |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location tea=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Mei |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What do historians say?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t9:2
# text = What do historians say?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	historians	historian	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | historians |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody took anything

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t9:o1:1
# text = Nobody took anything
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | Nobody | anything |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tea came from Brazil

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t9:o2:1
# text = Tea came from Brazil
1	Tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Brazil	Brazil	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | Tea |  |  | Brazil |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from brazil=Initial\_Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tea was invented in England and taken to China by British sailors

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t9:o3:1
# text = Tea was invented in England and taken to China by British sailors
1	Tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	England	England	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past · passive |  | Tea |  | England |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |
| 2 | **take** | participle |  |  | China |  |  | by British sailors | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to china=Result |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fortune smuggled plants out, but tea had already spread by trade

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:53-china-the-four-great-inventions:t9:o4:1
# text = Fortune smuggled plants out, but tea had already spread by trade
1	Fortune	fortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	smuggled	smuggle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	out	out	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	already	already	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smuggle out** | past | Fortune | plants |  |  |  | out *property* | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plant=Theme |
| 2 | **spread** | past · perfect · passive | trade | tea |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location 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.

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