---
title: A friend says borders are natural and have always been where they ar… — Borders: why they are where they are · tree and pragmatics
description: A friend says borders are natural and have always been where they are now. What is wrong? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 31 «Borders: why they are where they are» 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 rig
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Borders: why they are where they are

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A friend says borders are natural and have always been where they are now. What is wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** friend, borders · **What happens:** say, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 31 «Borders: why they are where they are» 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/31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A friend says borders are natural and have always been where they are now.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are:t6:1
# text = A friend says borders are natural and have always been where they are now.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	borders	border	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	10	advmod	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	14	advmod	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | borders |  |  |  |  | natural *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | borders *= border* |  |  |  |  | now *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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are:t6:2
# text = What is wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Borders are agreed by people and have changed many times

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are:t6:o1:1
# text = Borders are agreed by people and have changed many times
1	Borders	border	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	agreed	agree	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:agent	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
9	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | present · passive | people | Borders |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent subject=Topic |
| 2 | **change** | present · perfect | people *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only African borders have ever changed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are:t6:o2:1
# text = Only African borders have ever changed
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	African	African	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	borders	border	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
6	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present · perfect · passive |  | African borders |  |  | ever |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, borders never change

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are:t6:o3:1
# text = Nothing, borders never change
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	borders	border	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **change** | present | borders |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Borders only change when rivers move their beds in floods

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are:t6:o4:1
# text = Borders only change when rivers move their beds in floods
1	Borders	border	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
5	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	move	move	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	beds	bed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	floods	flood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present | Borders |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **move** | present | rivers | rivers's beds |  | floods |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent bed=Theme |

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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: [Borders: why they are where they are, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are/t5/)
- next →: [Borders: why they are where they are, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Borders: why they are where they are](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are/)