---
title: Why are Scotland's mountains so much lower than the Alps today? — Weathering and erosion · tree and pragmatics
description: Why are Scotland's mountains so much lower than the Alps today? Test 11 of lesson 52 «Weathering and erosion» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/52-weathering-and-erosion/t11/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Geography](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/) / [Weathering and erosion](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/52-weathering-and-erosion/) / t11

# Test 11 · Weathering and erosion

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why are Scotland's mountains so much lower than the Alps today?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 52 «Weathering and erosion» 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/52-weathering-and-erosion/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t11:1
# text = Why are Scotland's mountains so much lower than the Alps today?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
3	Scotland	Scotland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	much	much	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	lower	low	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Alps	Alp	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  | today | than the Alps; low *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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are sinking into the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t11:o1:1
# text = They are sinking into the sea
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	sinking	sink	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** | present · progressive | They |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People cut their tops off for building stone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t11:o2:1
# text = People cut their tops off for building stone
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	cut	cut	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	tops	top	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	off	off	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	building	build	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut off** | present | People | People's tops |  |  |  | off *property* | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector top=Eventuality |
| 2 | **build** | gerund | People *not said here* | stone |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset stone=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were never more than small hills

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t11:o3:1
# text = They were never more than small hills
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | They |  |  |  |  | than small hills; more *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are very old and have been worn down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t11:o4:1
# text = They are very old and have been worn down
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **wear down** | present · perfect · passive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative» |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Weathering and erosion, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/52-weathering-and-erosion/t10/)
- next →: [Weathering and erosion, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/52-weathering-and-erosion/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Weathering and erosion](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/52-weathering-and-erosion/)