---
title: Identify the principal advantage of conveying heavy goods by canal r… — Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal advantage of conveying heavy goods by canal rather than by road in the eighteenth century. Exam question 1 of lesson 41 «Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs, water-mills, barges and how not to tip a rowing boat» of the technology course of Mova's primary school, with the de
---

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# Exam question 1 · Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs, water-mills, barge…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal advantage of conveying heavy goods by canal rather than by road in the eighteenth century.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, convey · **To what, where:** principal advantage, heavy goods

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 41 «Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs, water-mills, barges and how not to tip a rowing boat» of the technology course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/technology/41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal advantage of conveying heavy goods by canal rather than by road in the eighteenth century.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	advantage	advantage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	conveying	convey	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
7	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	goods	goods	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	6	obj	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	canal	canal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	14	cc	_	_
12	than	than	ADP	IN	_	11	fixed	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	eighteenth	eighteenth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal advantage |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent advantage=Theme |
| 2 | **convey** | gerund | you *not said here* | heavy goods |  |  | century | by canal | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent goods=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A single horse could draw a far greater load upon the water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:e1:o1:1
# text = A single horse could draw a far greater load upon the water
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	draw	draw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
8	greater	great	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	load	load	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **draw** | could | a single horse | a greater load |  |  |  | upon the water | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent load=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Canals were open to traffic only at night, when the roads were closed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:e1:o2:1
# text = Canals were open to traffic only at night, when the roads were closed
1	Canals	canal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	traffic	traffic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	14	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	closed	close	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Canals |  |  |  |  | open *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **close** | past · passive |  | the roads |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Road carts were forbidden by law

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:e1:o3:1
# text = Road carts were forbidden by law
1	Road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	carts	cart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	forbidden	forbid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forbid** | past · passive | law | Road carts |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Boats required no persons whatsoever to steer them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:e1:o4:1
# text = Boats required no persons whatsoever to steer them
1	Boats	boat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	required	require	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	steer	steer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **require** | past | Boats | no persons |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme person=Precondition |
| 2 | **steer** | to-infinitive | Boats *not said here* | persons *= person* |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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 -->

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- next →: [Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat/e2/)
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