---
title: What would happen if Earth had no rain, rivers or ice at all? — Weathering and erosion · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if Earth had no rain, rivers or ice at all? Test 6 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.
---

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# Test 6 · Weathering and erosion

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if Earth had no rain, rivers or ice at all?

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

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This is test 6 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t6:1
# text = What would happen if Earth had no rain, rivers or ice at all?
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	_	6	mark	_	_
5	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	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 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Earth | no rain and rivers or ice at all |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rain=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 -->
Erosion would be far slower, as running water is its strongest agent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t6:o1:1
# text = Erosion would be far slower, as running water is its strongest agent
1	Erosion	erosion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
5	slower	slow	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	running	run	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	amod	_	_
9	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	strongest	strong	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	amod	_	_
13	agent	agent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | Erosion |  |  |  |  | far, slow *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **run** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | Erosion's slower strongest agent |  |  |  | as running water | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rocks would grow back together

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t6:o2:1
# text = Rocks would grow back together
1	Rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	back	back	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow back** | would | Rocks |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mountains would wear down much faster, with nothing to protect them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t6:o3:1
# text = Mountains would wear down much faster, with nothing to protect them
1	Mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	wear	wear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	parataxis	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wear down** | would | Mountains |  |  |  |  | down, fast *property* | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **protect** | to-infinitive | Mountains *not said here* | Mountains *= mountain* |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Deserts would turn into forests

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:52-weathering-and-erosion:t6:o4:1
# text = Deserts would turn into forests
1	Deserts	desert	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	forests	forest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | Deserts |  |  | forests |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into forest=Trajectory |

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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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- ← previous: [Weathering and erosion, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/52-weathering-and-erosion/t5/)
- next →: [Weathering and erosion, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/52-weathering-and-erosion/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Weathering and erosion](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/52-weathering-and-erosion/)