---
title: Why do farmers cut terraces into steep slopes? — Food and farming around the world · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do farmers cut terraces into steep slopes? Test 5 of lesson 26 «Food and farming around the world» 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 5 · Food and farming around the world

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do farmers cut terraces into steep slopes?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** farmers · **What happens:** cut · **To what, where:** terraces, steep slopes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 26 «Food and farming around the world» 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/26-food-and-farming-around-the-world/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:26-food-and-farming-around-the-world:t5:1
# text = Why do farmers cut terraces into steep slopes?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	farmers	farmer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	terraces	terrace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	slopes	slope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | present · do-support | farmers | terraces |  | steep slopes |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent terrace=Material into slope=Product |

<!-- .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 -->
Terraces make the hill grow taller every year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:26-food-and-farming-around-the-world:t5:o1:1
# text = Terraces make the hill grow taller every year
1	Terraces	terrace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Terraces | the hill |  |  | year |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset hill=Product |
| 2 | **is** | present | the hill *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tall *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Flat steps hold water and stop soil washing away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:26-food-and-farming-around-the-world:t5:o2:1
# text = Flat steps hold water and stop soil washing away
1	Flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hold	hold	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	washing	wash	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
9	away	away	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present | Flat steps | water |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme |
| 2 | **stop** | present | Flat steps *not said here* | soil |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **wash away** | gerund | Flat steps *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Terraces keep the cold mountain wind off the farmers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:26-food-and-farming-around-the-world:t5:o3:1
# text = Terraces keep the cold mountain wind off the farmers
1	Terraces	terrace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	off	off	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	farmers	farmer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | Terraces | the cold mountain wind |  |  |  | off the farmers | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wind=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Steps are easier to paint

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:26-food-and-farming-around-the-world:t5:o4:1
# text = Steps are easier to paint
1	Steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	easier	easy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	paint	paint	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Steps |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **paint** | to-infinitive | Steps *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- 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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