---
title: Could a game of table tennis alone make two countries friends? — China: 1911, 1949 and Mao · tree and pragmatics
description: Could a game of table tennis alone make two countries friends? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 58 «China: 1911, 1949 and Mao» 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: 1911, 1949 and Mao

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Could a game of table tennis alone make two countries friends?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** game · **What happens:** make · **To what, where:** two countries

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 58 «China: 1911, 1949 and Mao» 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/58-china-1911-1949-and-mao/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:58-china-1911-1949-and-mao:t11:1
# text = Could a game of table tennis alone make two countries friends?
1	Could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	tennis	tennis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
8	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	countries	country	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | a game of table tennis | two countries |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset country=Beneficiary friend=Product |

<!-- .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 -->
Yes, the winner gets to choose which country is its friend

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:58-china-1911-1949-and-mao:t11:o1:1
# text = Yes, the winner gets to choose which country is its friend
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	winner	winner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	gets	get	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	9	det	_	_
9	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | present | the winner |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **choose** | to-infinitive | the winner *not said here* | which country |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent country=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | winner's friend |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, America lost on purpose so China would be happy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:58-china-1911-1949-and-mao:t11:o2:1
# text = Yes, America lost on purpose so China would be happy
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	America	America	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	cop	_	_
11	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | participle | America |  |  | purpose |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | would | China |  |  |  |  | happy *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No; it was a sign, politics did the real work

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:58-china-1911-1949-and-mao:t11:o3:1
# text = No; it was a sign, politics did the real work
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	politics	politics	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	9	nsubj	_	_
9	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | it | a sign |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | past | politics | the real work |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, because the game never happened at all in 1971

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:58-china-1911-1949-and-mao:t11:o4:1
# text = No, because the game never happened at all in 1971
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	1971	1971	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **happen** | past | the game |  |  | all |  | in 1971 | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at all=Location |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [China: 1911, 1949 and Mao, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/58-china-1911-1949-and-mao/t10/)
- next →: [China: 1911, 1949 and Mao, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/58-china-1911-1949-and-mao/e1/)
- ↑ back to [China: 1911, 1949 and Mao](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/58-china-1911-1949-and-mao/)