---
title: «silk road = one long motorway» says Mei's mate. Mei: nah, that's ca… — Trade: why people swap, and the great… · tree and pragmatics
description: «silk road = one long motorway» says Mei's mate. Mei: nah, that's cap. Why? Test 2 of lesson 70 «Trade: why people swap, and the great trade routes» 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 2 · Trade: why people swap, and the great trade routes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«silk road = one long motorway» says Mei's mate. Mei: nah, that's cap. Why?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** one long motorway · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** mate, cap · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 of lesson 70 «Trade: why people swap, and the great trade routes» 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/70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «silk road = one long motorway» says Mei's mate.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes:t2:1
# text = «silk road = one long motorway» says Mei's mate.
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	=	=	SYM	SYM	_	9	punct	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	motorway	motorway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
9	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	Mei	Mei	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | one long motorway | Mei's mate |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent mate=Topic |

<!-- .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:* Mei: nah, that's cap.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes:t2:2
# text = Mei: nah, that's cap.
1	Mei	Mei	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
3	nah	nah	INTJ	UH	_	1	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	cap	cap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | that cap |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* Why?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes:t2:3
# text = Why?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It went only round Rome and never reached China

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes:t2:o1:1
# text = It went only round Rome and never reached China
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	round	round	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Rome	Rome	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | It | China |  | Rome |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme round rome=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **not** **reach** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was one road, but with petrol stations every few km

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes:t2:o2:1
# text = It was one road, but with petrol stations every few km
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	petrol	petrol	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	stations	station	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
10	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
11	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	km	km	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | one road but petrol stations  every few km |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a sea route only, with no roads on land at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes:t2:o3:1
# text = It was a sea route only, with no roads on land at all
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	route	route	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | a sea route and no roads on land |  | all |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was many routes, with goods passed hand to hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes:t2:o4:1
# text = It was many routes, with goods passed hand to hand
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	routes	route	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	goods	goods	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	4	conj	_	_
8	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
9	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	hand	hand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | many routes and goods |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | participle | many routes and goods *not said here* | hand |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme hand=Trajectory |
| 3 | **hand** | to-infinitive | many routes and goods *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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: [Trade: why people swap, and the great…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes/t1/)
- next →: [Trade: why people swap, and the great…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Trade: why people swap, and the great trade routes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/70-trade-why-people-swap-and-the-great-trade-routes/)