---
title: Why might countries agree to set aside a whole continent for science? — The Arctic and Antarctica · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might countries agree to set aside a whole continent for science? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 15 «The Arctic and Antarctica» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · The Arctic and Antarctica

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might countries agree to set aside a whole continent for science?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** countries · **What happens:** agree, set · **To what, where:** whole continent

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This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 15 «The Arctic and Antarctica» 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/15-the-arctic-and-antarctica/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t11:1
# text = Why might countries agree to set aside a whole continent for science?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	countries	country	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	agree	agree	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	aside	aside	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	continent	continent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	science	science	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | might | countries |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **set** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | countries *not said here* | a whole continent |  |  |  | for science; aside *property* | vn preparing-26.3-2 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent continent=Patient for science=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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 -->
Because science is cheaper than mining

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t11:o1:1
# text = Because science is cheaper than mining
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	science	science	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	cheaper	cheap	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	mining	mining	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | science |  |  |  |  | than mining; cheap *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So that no one fights over it and all can study it in peace

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t11:o2:1
# text = So that no one fights over it and all can study it in peace
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	fights	fight	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	over	over	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	study	study	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	peace	peace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | present | no one |  |  |  |  | over it | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V PP.theme NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent over it=Theme |
| 2 | **study** | can | all | it |  | peace |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because Antarctica belongs to the United Nations

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t11:o3:1
# text = Because Antarctica belongs to the United Nations
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	Antarctica	Antarctica	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	belongs	belong	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	United	United	PROPN	NNP	_	7	compound	_	_
7	Nations	Nation	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **belong** | present | Antarctica |  |  |  |  | to the United Nations | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because nobody wanted any land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t11:o4:1
# text = Because nobody wanted any land
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | nobody | any land |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot 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.

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- ← previous: [The Arctic and Antarctica, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/15-the-arctic-and-antarctica/t10/)
- next →: [The Arctic and Antarctica, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/15-the-arctic-and-antarctica/e1/)
- ↑ back to [The Arctic and Antarctica](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/15-the-arctic-and-antarctica/)