---
title: Why did portolan charts show coasts in great detail but leave inland… — Maps and scale · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did portolan charts show coasts in great detail but leave inland areas almost empty? Test 4 of lesson 1 «Maps and scale» of the geography course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 4 · Maps and scale

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did portolan charts show coasts in great detail but leave inland areas almost empty?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** portolan charts · **What happens:** show, leave · **To what, where:** coasts, inland areas

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 of lesson 1 «Maps and scale» of the geography 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/geography/1-maps-and-scale/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:1-maps-and-scale:t4:1
# text = Why did portolan charts show coasts in great detail but leave inland areas almost empty?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	portolan	portolan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	charts	chart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	coasts	coast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	detail	detail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	leave	leave	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
12	inland	inland	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	areas	area	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
14	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | portolan charts | coasts |  |  |  | in great detail | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent coast=Patient in detail=Topic |
| 2 | **leave** | present | portolan charts *not said here* | inland areas |  |  |  | empty *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent area=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sailors needed the coasts, not the land far inside

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:1-maps-and-scale:t4:o1:1
# text = Sailors needed the coasts, not the land far inside
1	Sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	coasts	coast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
10	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | past | Sailors | the coasts |  |  |  | the land *obl*; inside *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot coast=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The inland areas were under the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:1-maps-and-scale:t4:o2:1
# text = The inland areas were under the sea
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	inland	inland	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	areas	area	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	under	under	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the inland areas |  |  | the sea |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody lived inland in those days

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:1-maps-and-scale:t4:o3:1
# text = Nobody lived inland in those days
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	inland	inland	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past | Nobody |  |  |  | day | inland *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ink was too costly to waste on drawing the land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:1-maps-and-scale:t4:o4:1
# text = Ink was too costly to waste on drawing the land
1	Ink	ink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	costly	costly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	waste	waste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
7	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	drawing	draw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Ink |  |  |  |  | costly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **waste** | to-infinitive | Ink *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **draw** | gerund | Ink *not said here* | the land |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent land=Theme |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Maps and scale, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/1-maps-and-scale/t3/)
- next →: [Maps and scale, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/1-maps-and-scale/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Maps and scale](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/1-maps-and-scale/)