---
title: Why do so few people live in the Sahara? — Population and cities · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do so few people live in the Sahara? Test 2 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 right.
---

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# Test 2 · Population and cities

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do so few people live in the Sahara?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** few people · **What happens:** live · **To what, where:** Sahara

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 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/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t2:1
# text = Why do so few people live in the Sahara?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Sahara	Sahara	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | few people |  |  | the Sahara |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sahara=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
There is too little water to farm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t2:o1:1
# text = There is too little water to farm
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	farm	farm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | little water |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **farm** | to-infinitive | little water *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn rear-26.2.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is too cold at night for anyone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t2:o2:1
# text = It is too cold at night for anyone
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	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  | night | for anyone; cold *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is against the law to live there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t2:o3:1
# text = It is against the law to live there
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	against	against	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | against the law | tree rules |
| 2 | **live** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sand is too hot to build on at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:24-population-and-cities:t2:o4:1
# text = The sand is too hot to build on at all
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the sand |  |  |  |  | hot *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **build on** | to-infinitive | the sand *not said here* |  |  | all |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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: [Population and cities, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/24-population-and-cities/t1/)
- next →: [Population and cities, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/24-population-and-cities/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Population and cities](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/24-population-and-cities/)