---
title: How did English become so widespread when it was once a small langua… — Languages and peoples on the map · tree and pragmatics
description: How did English become so widespread when it was once a small language of one island? Test 12 of lesson 25 «Languages and peoples on the map» 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 12 · Languages and peoples on the map

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How did English become so widespread when it was once a small language of one island?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** English, it · **What happens:** become, be · **To what, where:** widespread small language

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 of lesson 25 «Languages and peoples on the map» 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/25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map:t12:1
# text = How did English become so widespread when it was once a small language of one island?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	widespread	widespread	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
10	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	13	advmod	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	xcomp	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past · do-support | English |  |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | it | a widespread small language |  |  |  | of one island; once *property* | 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was always spoken everywhere, even before Britain had ships

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map:t12:o1:1
# text = It was always spoken everywhere, even before Britain had ships
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	even	even	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | It |  |  |  | always, everywhere *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | Britain | ships |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ship=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Latin turned into English across Europe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map:t12:o2:1
# text = Latin turned into English across Europe
1	Latin	Latin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	into	into	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	across	across	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Europe	Europe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past | Latin |  |  |  |  | into English *result*; across Europe | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into english=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Everyone voted for it in 1500

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map:t12:o3:1
# text = Everyone voted for it in 1500
1	Everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	2	nsubj	_	_
2	voted	vote	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	1500	1500	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vote** | past | Everyone |  |  | 1500 |  | for it *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent for it=Goal |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It spread with the British Empire and later with the USA

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map:t12:o4:1
# text = It spread with the British Empire and later with the USA
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	Empire	Empire	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	11	advmod	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	USA	USA	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | past | It |  |  |  |  | with the British Empire and the USA | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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: [Languages and peoples on the map, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map/t11/)
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- ↑ back to [Languages and peoples on the map](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map/)