---
title: Josh says: «Antarctica can't be a desert, it's all ice!» What is the… — Deserts · tree and pragmatics
description: Josh says: «Antarctica can't be a desert, it's all ice!» What is the best answer? Test 1 of lesson 18 «Deserts» 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 1 · Deserts

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Josh says: «Antarctica can't be a desert, it's all ice!» What is the best answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Josh, Antarctica, desert, best answer · **What happens:** say, not be, be · **To what, where:** desert, ice · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 of lesson 18 «Deserts» 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/18-deserts/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Josh says: «Antarctica can't be a desert, it's all ice!»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:18-deserts:t1:1
# text = Josh says: «Antarctica can't be a desert, it's all ice!»
1	Josh	Josh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
4	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Antarctica	Antarctica	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
6	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | present | Josh |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | can | Antarctica | a desert |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | desert | all ice |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is the best answer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:18-deserts:t1:2
# text = What is the best answer?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the best answer |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is only a desert in summer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:18-deserts:t1:o1:1
# text = It is only a desert in summer
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	summer	summer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a desert |  |  | summer |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Josh is right, deserts must be sandy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:18-deserts:t1:o2:1
# text = Josh is right, deserts must be sandy
1	Josh	Josh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	deserts	desert	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
6	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
8	sandy	sandy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Josh |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | must | deserts |  |  |  |  | sandy *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a desert because very little snow falls there each year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:18-deserts:t1:o3:1
# text = It is a desert because very little snow falls there each year
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	falls	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
11	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a desert |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall** | present | little snow | a desert *not said here* |  | there | year |  | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient desert=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a desert because it is hot

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:18-deserts:t1:o4:1
# text = It is a desert because it is hot
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a desert |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | desert |  |  |  |  | hot *property* | tree rules |

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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: [Mountains and highlands, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/17-mountains-and-highlands/e4/)
- next →: [Deserts, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/18-deserts/t2/)
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