---
title: Why did Spanish silver travel all the way to China? — China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did Spanish silver travel all the way to China? Test 8 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 8 · China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did Spanish silver travel all the way to China?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Spanish silver · **What happens:** travel · **To what, where:** way, China

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t8:1
# text = Why did Spanish silver travel all the way to China?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	travel	travel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **travel** | past · do-support | Spanish silver | all way | China |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to china=Destination |

<!-- .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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To pay Zheng He

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t8:o1:1
# text = To pay Zheng He
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	pay	pay	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Zheng	Zheng	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	flat	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | to-infinitive |  | Zheng |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent zheng=Asset |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To make coins for Rome

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t8:o2:1
# text = To make coins for Rome
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	coins	coin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Rome	Rome	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | coins |  |  |  | for Rome | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent coin=Product for rome=Beneficiary |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To buy silk and porcelain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t8:o3:1
# text = To buy silk and porcelain
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	buy	buy	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	porcelain	porcelain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** | to-infinitive |  | silk and porcelain |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent silk=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To build the Wall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages:t8:o4:1
# text = To build the Wall
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	build	build	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | to-infinitive |  | the Wall |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset wall=Product |

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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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages/t7/)
- next →: [China: the Ming and Zheng He's voyages, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/56-china-the-ming-and-zheng-he-s-voyages/t9/)
- ↑ 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/)