---
title: What would happen if historians read only Spanish letters about the… — When civilizations meet: conquest, col… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if historians read only Spanish letters about the conquest of Mexico? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 76 «When civilizations meet: conquest, colonies and freedom, seen from both sides» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question an
---

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# Test 11 · ★★ · When civilizations meet: conquest, colonies and freedom, s…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if historians read only Spanish letters about the conquest of Mexico?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** historians · **What happens:** happen, read · **To what, where:** Spanish letters

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 76 «When civilizations meet: conquest, colonies and freedom, seen from both sides» 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/76-when-civilizations-meet-seen-from-both-sides/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:76-when-civilizations-meet-seen-from-both-sides:t11:1
# text = What would happen if historians read only Spanish letters about the conquest of Mexico?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	historians	historian	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	read	read	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	conquest	conquest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Mexico	Mexico	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **read** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | historians | Spanish letters about the conquest of Mexico |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
They would hear only the Aztec side

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:76-when-civilizations-meet-seen-from-both-sides:t11:o1:1
# text = They would hear only the Aztec side
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Aztec	Aztec	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | would | They | the Aztec side |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, all sources say the same

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:76-when-civilizations-meet-seen-from-both-sides:t11:o2:1
# text = Nothing, all sources say the same
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	sources	source	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Nothing | the same |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent same=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would know everything perfectly, because the Spanish wrote down every detail

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:76-when-civilizations-meet-seen-from-both-sides:t11:o3:1
# text = They would know everything perfectly, because the Spanish wrote down every detail
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	3	obj	_	_
5	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	nsubj	_	_
10	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
11	down	down	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	13	det	_	_
13	detail	detail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | would | They | everything |  |  |  | perfectly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer everything=Stimulus |
| 2 | **write down** | past | the Spanish | every detail |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent detail=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would hear mostly one side; the Florentine Codex adds Aztec memories

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:76-when-civilizations-meet-seen-from-both-sides:t11:o4:1
# text = They would hear mostly one side; the Florentine Codex adds Aztec memories
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	mostly	mostly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Florentine	Florentine	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Codex	Codex	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	adds	add	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	Aztec	Aztec	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	memories	memory	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | would | They | one side |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer side=Stimulus |
| 2 | **add** *speech: assert* | present | the Florentine Codex | Aztec |  |  |  |  | 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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