---
title: In a film, a crack opens and California floats off into the Pacific… — Plate tectonics · tree and pragmatics
description: In a film, a crack opens and California floats off into the Pacific overnight. What's wrong? Test 7 · ★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Plate tectonics

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a film, a crack opens and California floats off into the Pacific overnight. What's wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** crack, California · **What happens:** open, float off, be · **To what, where:** film, Pacific

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a film, a crack opens and California floats off into the Pacific overnight.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t7:1
# text = In a film, a crack opens and California floats off into the Pacific overnight.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	film	film	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	crack	crack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	opens	open	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	California	California	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	floats	float	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
11	off	off	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	into	into	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Pacific	Pacific	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	overnight	overnight	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **open** | present | a crack |  |  | a film |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in film=Location |
| 2 | **float off** | present | California |  |  |  |  | into the Pacific *result*; overnight *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent into pacific=Result |

<!-- .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's wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t7:2
# text = What's wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Plates move only in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t7:o1:1
# text = Plates move only in winter
1	Plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	move	move	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, that really happens every century or so, after the big earthquakes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t7:o2:1
# text = Nothing, that really happens every century or so, after the big earthquakes
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
4	really	really	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	after	after	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	earthquakes	earthquake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | present |  |  |  |  | after the big earthquakes; century |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
California is not on any plate

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t7:o3:1
# text = California is not on any plate
1	California	California	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	plate	plate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | California |  |  | any plate |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Plates slide past each other a few cm a year, not open in a night

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:42-plate-tectonics:t7:o4:1
# text = Plates slide past each other a few cm a year, not open in a night
1	Plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	slide	slide	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	past	past	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	2	obl	_	_
5	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	fixed	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	cm	cm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slide** | present | Plates | a few cm |  |  | year | past each | vn run-51.3.2-2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location cm=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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