---
title: My mate says the world has always had about 8 billion people. Right? — Population and cities · tree and pragmatics
description: My mate says the world has always had about 8 billion people. Right? Test 1 of lesson 24 «Population and cities» 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 · Population and cities

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My mate says the world has always had about 8 billion people. Right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mate, world · **What happens:** say, have · **To what, where:** billion people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 of lesson 24 «Population and cities» 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/24-population-and-cities/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* My mate says the world has always had about 8 billion people.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t1:1
# text = My mate says the world has always had about 8 billion people.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
8	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
9	about	about	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	8	8	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	11	compound	_	_
11	billion	billion	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | My mate |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | present · perfect | the world | billion people |  |  |  | always *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Patient |

<!-- .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:* Right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t1:2
# text = Right?
1	Right	right	INTJ	UH	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but they lived only in Europe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t1:o1:1
# text = Yes, but they lived only in Europe
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Europe	Europe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past | they |  |  | Europe |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in europe=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, around 1337 there were perhaps only about 400 million

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t1:o2:1
# text = No, around 1337 there were perhaps only about 400 million
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	around	around	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	1337	1337	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	obl	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	about	about	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	400	400	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	11	compound	_	_
11	million	million	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | 400 million |  |  | 1337; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme around 1337=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, there used to be many more than now

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t1:o3:1
# text = No, there used to be many more than now
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
4	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
7	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obj	_	_
8	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	7	advmod	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	fixed	_	_
10	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | participle |  |  |  | there | now |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | many *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, the number of people on Earth has hardly changed in a thousand years

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t1:o4:1
# text = Yes, the number of people on Earth has hardly changed in a thousand years
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	11	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present · perfect | the number of people on Earth |  |  |  | year | hardly *property* | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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: [Weather, storms and the changing climate, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/23-weather-storms-and-the-changing-climate/e4/)
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