---
title: Liam's tour guide says the tall, thin Amsterdam houses show how prec… — Why some places grew rich · tree and pragmatics
description: Liam's tour guide says the tall, thin Amsterdam houses show how precious canal-side land was. Why was land there so wanted? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 72 «Why some places grew rich» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/72-why-some-places-grew-rich/t4/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [History](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/) / [Why some places grew rich](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/72-why-some-places-grew-rich/) / t4

# Test 4 · ★ · Why some places grew rich

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Liam's tour guide says the tall, thin Amsterdam houses show how precious canal-side land was. Why was land there so wanted?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** tour guide, tall thin Amsterdam houses, side land · **What happens:** say, show, be, want · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 72 «Why some places grew rich» 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/72-why-some-places-grew-rich/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Liam's tour guide says the tall, thin Amsterdam houses show how precious canal-side land was.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:72-why-some-places-grew-rich:t4:1
# text = Liam's tour guide says the tall, thin Amsterdam houses show how precious canal-side land was.
1	Liam	Liam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	tour	tour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	guide	guide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
7	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	Amsterdam	Amsterdam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
13	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
14	precious	precious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	ccomp	_	_
15	canal	canal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Liam's tour guide |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **show** | present | the tall thin Amsterdam houses |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | side land |  |  |  |  | precious *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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:* Why was land there so wanted?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:72-why-some-places-grew-rich:t4:2
# text = Why was land there so wanted?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
4	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	wanted	want	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | there *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **want** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dutch people liked climbing stairs for fun and exercise

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:72-why-some-places-grew-rich:t4:o1:1
# text = Dutch people liked climbing stairs for fun and exercise
1	Dutch	dutch	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	climbing	climb	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	exercise	exercise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | past | Dutch people |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **climb** *not said to happen* | gerund | Dutch people *not said here* | stairs |  |  |  | for fun and exercise | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location stair=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The city was a busy, rich trading centre with little room by the canals

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:72-why-some-places-grew-rich:t4:o2:1
# text = The city was a busy, rich trading centre with little room by the canals
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
5	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	trading	trading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	centre	centre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	canals	canal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the city | a busy rich trading centre |  |  |  | with little room; by the canals | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody wanted to live near the canals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:72-why-some-places-grew-rich:t4:o3:1
# text = Nobody wanted to live near the canals
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	near	near	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	canals	canal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | Nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **live** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Nobody *not said here* |  |  | the canals |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near canal=Location |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Houses were built thin so that the storms from the sea would pass by

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:72-why-some-places-grew-rich:t4:o4:1
# text = Houses were built thin so that the storms from the sea would pass by
1	Houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	storms	storm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past · passive |  | Houses |  |  |  | thin *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 2 | **pass by** | would | the storms from the sea |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Why some places grew rich, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/72-why-some-places-grew-rich/t3/)
- next →: [Why some places grew rich, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/72-why-some-places-grew-rich/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Why some places grew rich](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/72-why-some-places-grew-rich/)