---
title: What would happen if no plate ever sank into the mantle any more? — Plate tectonics · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if no plate ever sank into the mantle any more? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 42 «Plate tectonics» 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 3 · ★ · Plate tectonics

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if no plate ever sank into the mantle any more?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** plate · **What happens:** happen, sink · **To what, where:** mantle

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 42 «Plate tectonics» 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/42-plate-tectonics/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t3:1
# text = What would happen if no plate ever sank into the mantle any more?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	plate	plate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	8	advmod	_	_
8	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mantle	mantle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	any	any	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **sink** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | no plate |  |  | the mantle | ever |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The main force pushing plates, slab pull, would stop

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t3:o1:1
# text = The main force pushing plates, slab pull, would stop
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	main	main	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
4	pushing	push	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	slab	slab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	pull	pull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | gerund | the main force *not said here* | plates and slab pull |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plate=Theme |
| 2 | **stop** | would | the main force |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Plates would move much faster

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t3:o2:1
# text = Plates would move much faster
1	Plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | would | Plates |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
New mountains would grow everywhere, on every continent, very fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t3:o3:1
# text = New mountains would grow everywhere, on every continent, very fast
1	New	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	continent	continent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	very	very	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | New mountains |  |  | every continent |  | everywhere, fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on continent=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Earth would grow bigger each year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t3:o4:1
# text = The Earth would grow bigger each year
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
6	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | the Earth |  |  |  | year | big *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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: [Plate tectonics, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/42-plate-tectonics/t2/)
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