---
title: The teacher tells the Talas prisoners story as fact. Mei read some d… — China: the Silk Road and the Tang · tree and pragmatics
description: The teacher tells the Talas prisoners story as fact. Mei read some doubts. What is wise? Test 9 · ★ 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 right.
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · China: the Silk Road and the Tang

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The teacher tells the Talas prisoners story as fact. Mei read some doubts. What is wise?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** teacher, Mei · **What happens:** tell, read, be · **To what, where:** prisoners story, doubts · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The teacher tells the Talas prisoners story as fact.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t9:1
# text = The teacher tells the Talas prisoners story as fact.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Talas	Tala	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	compound	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the teacher | the Talas's prisoners story |  |  |  | as fact | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient |

<!-- .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:* Mei read some doubts.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t9:2
# text = Mei read some doubts.
1	Mei	Mei	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	read	read	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	doubts	doubt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | past | Mei | some doubts |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent doubt=Topic |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What is wise?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t9:3
# text = What is wise?
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	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is proven beyond doubt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t9:o1:1
# text = It is proven beyond doubt
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	proven	prove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	doubt	doubt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  | beyond doubt | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Paper came from Samarkand to China

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t9:o2:1
# text = Paper came from Samarkand to China
1	Paper	paper	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	Samarkand	Samarkand	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tell it as a story; paper probably arrived earlier

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t9:o3:1
# text = Tell it as a story; paper probably arrived earlier
1	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
7	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
10	earlier	early	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* |  | it |  |  | as a story | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Recipient |
| 2 | **arrive** | past | paper |  |  |  |  | early, probably *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It never happened, there was no battle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:54-china-the-silk-road-and-the-tang:t9:o4:1
# text = It never happened, there was no battle
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **happen** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **be** | past | no battle |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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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