---
title: Why would the First Emperor want an army of clay soldiers in his tomb? — Ancient China: dynasties, the First Em… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would the First Emperor want an army of clay soldiers in his tomb? Test 7 of lesson 9 «Ancient China: dynasties, the First Emperor and the Great Wall» 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 wro
---

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# Test 7 · Ancient China: dynasties, the First Emperor and the Great…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would the First Emperor want an army of clay soldiers in his tomb?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** First Emperor · **What happens:** want · **To what, where:** army, tomb

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 9 «Ancient China: dynasties, the First Emperor and the Great Wall» 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/9-ancient-china-dynasties-the-first-emperor-and-the-great-wall/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:9-ancient-china-dynasties-the-first-emperor-and-the-great-wall:t7:1
# text = Why would the First Emperor want an army of clay soldiers in his tomb?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	First	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	amod	_	_
5	Emperor	Emperor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	tomb	tomb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | would | the First Emperor | a army of clay soldiers |  | Emperor's tomb |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot army=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To guard him in the afterlife

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:9-ancient-china-dynasties-the-first-emperor-and-the-great-wall:t7:o1:1
# text = To guard him in the afterlife
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	guard	guard	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	afterlife	afterlife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guard** | to-infinitive |  |  | him *= he* | the afterlife |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To play games with in the dark at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:9-ancient-china-dynasties-the-first-emperor-and-the-great-wall:t7:o2:1
# text = To play games with in the dark at night
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	play	play	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	games	game	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | to-infinitive |  | games |  |  | night | with the dark | vn play-114.2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent game=Theme with dark=Co-Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To scare away farmers who came to dig there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:9-ancient-china-dynasties-the-first-emperor-and-the-great-wall:t7:o3:1
# text = To scare away farmers who came to dig there
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	scare	scare	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	away	away	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	farmers	farmer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	dig	dig	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scare away** | to-infinitive |  | farmers |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus farmer=Experiencer |
| 2 | **come** | past | farmers |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **dig** | to-infinitive | farmers *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To sell to traders on the Silk Road after he died

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:9-ancient-china-dynasties-the-first-emperor-and-the-great-wall:t7:o4:1
# text = To sell to traders on the Silk Road after he died
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	sell	sell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	traders	trader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	Silk	Silk	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	Road	Road	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | to-infinitive |  |  | traders on the Silk Road |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to trader=Recipient |
| 2 | **die** | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- 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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