---
title: Mei says «China built the Silk Road», the teacher says «it was a roa… — China: the Silk Road and the Tang · tree and pragmatics
description: Mei says «China built the Silk Road», the teacher says «it was a road». What is wiser? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 54 «China: the Silk Road and the Tang» 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 1 · ★ · China: the Silk Road and the Tang

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mei says «China built the Silk Road», the teacher says «it was a road». What is wiser?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mei, China, teacher · **What happens:** say, build, be · **To what, where:** Silk Road, road · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 54 «China: the Silk Road and the Tang» 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/54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Mei says «China built the Silk Road», the teacher says «it was a road».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t1:1
# text = Mei says «China built the Silk Road», the teacher says «it was a road».
1	Mei	Mei	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	Silk	Silk	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	Road	Road	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Mei |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **build** *in a quote* | past | China | the Silk Road |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent road=Product |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | teacher | a road |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is wiser?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t1:2
# text = What is wiser?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One long stone road that China built alone across the deserts to Rome

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t1:o1:1
# text = One long stone road that China built alone across the deserts to Rome
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
2	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	across	across	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	deserts	desert	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Rome	Rome	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past | China | One long stone road | Rome | the deserts |  | alone *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A web of routes, with China at one end and many peoples trading

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t1:o2:1
# text = A web of routes, with China at one end and many peoples trading
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	web	web	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	routes	route	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	peoples	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
14	trading	trading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One road the Romans built

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t1:o3:1
# text = One road the Romans built
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Romans	Roman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	built	build	VERB	VBD	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past | the Romans | One road |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A railway

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t1:o4:1
# text = A railway
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	railway	railway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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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- ← previous: [China: the four great inventions, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/53-china-the-four-great-inventions/e4/)
- next →: [China: the Silk Road and the Tang, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang/t2/)
- ↑ back to [China: the Silk Road and the Tang](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang/)