---
title: The teacher says China stopped exploring because it «closed itself».… — China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages · tree and pragmatics
description: The teacher says China stopped exploring because it «closed itself». Too simple? Test 6 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 6 · China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The teacher says China stopped exploring because it «closed itself». Too simple?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The teacher says China stopped exploring because it «closed itself».

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t6:1
# text = The teacher says China stopped exploring because it «closed itself».
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
6	exploring	explore	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	closed	close	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
11	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the teacher |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **stop** | past | China |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **explore** | gerund | China *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **close** *in a quote* | past | teacher | teacher |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Patient |

<!-- .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:* Too simple?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t6:2
# text = Too simple?
1	Too	too	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ships sank

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t6:o1:1
# text = The ships sank
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** | past | the ships |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes; cost, opposition at court and the northern defence mattered

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t6:o2:1
# text = Yes; cost, opposition at court and the northern defence mattered
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	12	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
3	cost	cost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	opposition	opposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	northern	northern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	defence	defence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
12	mattered	matter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **matter** | past | cost |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
China never explored

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t6:o3:1
# text = China never explored
1	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	explored	explore	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **explore** | past | China |  |  |  |  |  | vn investigate-35.4 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, that is the whole story, and nothing else at all needs to be said

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t6:o4:1
# text = No, that is the whole story, and nothing else at all needs to be said
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	appos	_	_
11	else	else	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	nmod	_	_
14	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | that | the whole story |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **need** | present | the whole story |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive · passive | the whole story *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S» |

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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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- ↑ 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/)