---
title: Mei says the Ming built the whole Wall from scratch. What is fairer? — China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages · tree and pragmatics
description: Mei says the Ming built the whole Wall from scratch. What is fairer? Test 11 of lesson 56 «China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages» 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 11 · China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mei says the Ming built the whole Wall from scratch. What is fairer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mei, Ming · **What happens:** say, build, be · **To what, where:** whole Wall, scratch · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 56 «China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages» 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/56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Mei says the Ming built the whole Wall from scratch.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t11:1
# text = Mei says the Ming built the whole Wall from scratch.
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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Ming	Ming	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	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	Wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	scratch	scratch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	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** | past | the Ming | the whole Wall |  | scratch |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.product PP.material»: agent=Agent wall=Product from scratch=Material |

<!-- .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 fairer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t11:2
# text = What is fairer?
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	fairer	fair	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 |  |  |  |  |  | fair *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Ming built no walls

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t11:o1:1
# text = The Ming built no walls
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Ming	Ming	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past | the Ming | no walls |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wall=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Exactly right

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t11:o2:1
# text = Exactly right
1	Exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Qin built every part, and the Ming only painted it and put up flags

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t11:o3:1
# text = The Qin built every part, and the Ming only painted it and put up flags
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Qin	Qin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Ming	Ming	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	painted	paint	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	flags	flag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past | the Qin | every part |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=Product |
| 2 | **paint** | past | the Ming | part |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Destination |
| 3 | **put up** | infinitive | the Ming *not said here* | flags |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent flag=Goal |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They built the famous brick and stone parts; earlier walls existed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t11:o4:1
# text = They built the famous brick and stone parts; earlier walls existed
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	famous	famous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	brick	brick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	parts	part	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	earlier	early	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	amod	_	_
11	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	existed	exist	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past | They | the famous brick and stone parts |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset brick=Product |
| 2 | **exist** | past | earlier walls |  |  |  |  |  | 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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- ← previous: [China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages/t10/)
- next →: [China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages/e1/)
- ↑ back to [China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages/)