---
title: Why did the Great Pyramid hold the record for tallest building for s… — Ancient Egypt: pyramids, mummies and h… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did the Great Pyramid hold the record for tallest building for so long? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 6 «Ancient Egypt: pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphs» 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 · ★★ · Ancient Egypt: pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did the Great Pyramid hold the record for tallest building for so long?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Great Pyramid · **What happens:** hold · **To what, where:** record

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 6 «Ancient Egypt: pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphs» 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/6-ancient-egypt-pyramids-mummies-and-hieroglyphs/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:6-ancient-egypt-pyramids-mummies-and-hieroglyphs:t8:1
# text = Why did the Great Pyramid hold the record for tallest building for so long?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	Pyramid	Pyramid	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	hold	hold	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	record	record	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	tallest	tall	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	amod	_	_
11	building	building	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past · do-support | the Great Pyramid | the record |  |  |  | for tallest building | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent record=Theme |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It kept growing taller each year as sand piled up on top

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:6-ancient-egypt-pyramids-mummies-and-hieroglyphs:t8:o1:1
# text = It kept growing taller each year as sand piled up on top
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
5	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	piled	pile	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	up	up	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | gerund |  |  |  |  | year | as sand; tall *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **pile up** | participle |  | sand *not said here* |  | top |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme on top=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People forgot how to build at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:6-ancient-egypt-pyramids-mummies-and-hieroglyphs:t8:o2:1
# text = People forgot how to build at all
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forget** | past | People |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **build** | to-infinitive | People *not said here* |  |  | all |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody built anything taller for nearly 4,000 years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:6-ancient-egypt-pyramids-mummies-and-hieroglyphs:t8:o3:1
# text = Nobody built anything taller for nearly 4,000 years
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obj	_	_
4	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	4,000	4,000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past | Nobody | anything |  |  | year |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Product |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was the only building in the world

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:6-ancient-egypt-pyramids-mummies-and-hieroglyphs:t8:o4:1
# text = It was the only building in the world
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	building	building	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | the only building |  | the world |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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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