---
title: A clever puzzle: the Atlantic opens a few cm a year and is about 5,0… — Moving continents: from Pangaea to today · tree and pragmatics
description: A clever puzzle: the Atlantic opens a few cm a year and is about 5,000 km wide. Roughly how long did it take to open? Test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 43 «Moving continents: from Pangaea to today» of the geography course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of 
---

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# Test 9 · ★★★ · Moving continents: from Pangaea to today

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A clever puzzle: the Atlantic opens a few cm a year and is about 5,000 km wide. Roughly how long did it take to open?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** clever puzzle · **What happens:** open, be, take · **To what, where:** few cm, puzzle

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This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 43 «Moving continents: from Pangaea to today» 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/43-moving-continents-from-pangaea-to-today/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A clever puzzle: the Atlantic opens a few cm a year and is about 5,000 km wide.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:43-moving-continents-from-pangaea-to-today:t9:1
# text = A clever puzzle: the Atlantic opens a few cm a year and is about 5,000 km wide.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	puzzle	puzzle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Atlantic	Atlantic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	opens	open	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	cm	cm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
15	about	about	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	5,000	5000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	km	km	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
18	wide	wide	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **open** | present | a clever puzzle | a few cm |  |  | year |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location cm=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | a clever puzzle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | 5,000 km *obl:unmarked*; wide *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:* Roughly how long did it take to open?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:43-moving-continents-from-pangaea-to-today:t9:2
# text = Roughly how long did it take to open?
1	Roughly	roughly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
3	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	expl	_	_
6	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past · do-support |  | puzzle |  |  |  | long, roughly *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **open** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About 10 billion years, longer than the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:43-moving-continents-from-pangaea-to-today:t9:o1:1
# text = About 10 billion years, longer than the Earth
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	10	10	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	compound	_	_
3	billion	billion	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About 1,000 years, since the Vikings

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:43-moving-continents-from-pangaea-to-today:t9:o2:1
# text = About 1,000 years, since the Vikings
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	1,000	1000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	since	since	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Vikings	Viking	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About 50,000 years, give or take

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:43-moving-continents-from-pangaea-to-today:t9:o3:1
# text = About 50,000 years, give or take
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	50,000	50000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  | year |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **take** | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About 100-200 million years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:43-moving-continents-from-pangaea-to-today:t9:o4:1
# text = About 100-200 million years
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	100-200	100-200	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	compound	_	_
3	million	million	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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