---
title: mate: "why'd ancient farmers live right next to rivers, they'd just… — Rivers shaping the land · tree and pragmatics
description: mate: "why'd ancient farmers live right next to rivers, they'd just get flooded, thick or what" — what's the best reason? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 53 «Rivers shaping the land» of the geography course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mo
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Rivers shaping the land

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
mate: "why'd ancient farmers live right next to rivers, they'd just get flooded, thick or what" — what's the best reason?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ancient farmers · **What happens:** live, flood, be · **To what, where:** farmers, best reason · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 53 «Rivers shaping the land» 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/53-rivers-shaping-the-land/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t6:1
# text = mate: "why'd ancient farmers live right next to rivers, they'd just get flooded, thick or what" — what's the best reason?
1	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	farmers	farmer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
9	right	right	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	next	next	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
16	just	just	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	get	get	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	flooded	flood	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	_
21	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
24	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
25	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	29	amod	_	_
29	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** *in a quote* | present | ancient farmers |  |  |  |  | next *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **flood** *in a quote* | would · passive |  | farmers *= farmer* |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | the best reason |  |  |  | mate *obl* | 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Floods left fertile mud, so the land grew good crops

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t6:o1:1
# text = Floods left fertile mud, so the land grew good crops
1	Floods	flood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
2	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
3	fertile	fertile	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	crops	crop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | participle | Floods *not said here* | fertile mud |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mud=Theme |
| 2 | **grow** | past | Floods | good crops |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location crop=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Floods never happened in ancient times

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t6:o2:1
# text = Floods never happened in ancient times
1	Floods	flood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **happen** | past | Floods |  |  |  | time |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
River land was always dry and safe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t6:o3:1
# text = River land was always dry and safe
1	River	River	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | River land |  |  |  |  | always, dry *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | River land *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rivers kept animals away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t6:o4:1
# text = The rivers kept animals away
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep away** | past | the rivers | animals |  |  |  | away *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Theme |

<!-- 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: [Rivers shaping the land, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/53-rivers-shaping-the-land/t5/)
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