---
title: In a cartoon, a river carves a canyon a mile deep in one afternoon.… — Rivers shaping the land · tree and pragmatics
description: In a cartoon, a river carves a canyon a mile deep in one afternoon. What is wrong? Test 7 · ★ 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; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Rivers shaping the land

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a cartoon, a river carves a canyon a mile deep in one afternoon. What is wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** river · **What happens:** carve, be · **To what, where:** canyon, cartoon

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

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* In a cartoon, a river carves a canyon a mile deep in one afternoon.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t7:1
# text = In a cartoon, a river carves a canyon a mile deep in one afternoon.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	carves	carve	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	canyon	canyon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mile	mile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	deep	deep	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	afternoon	afternoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carve** | present | a river | a canyon |  | a cartoon | afternoon | a mile *obl:unmarked*; deep *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent canyon=Theme in cartoon=Destination |

<!-- .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 is wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t7:2
# text = What is wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Canyons form only under the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t7:o1:1
# text = Canyons form only under the sea
1	Canyons	canyon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	form	form	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	under	under	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **form** | present | Canyons | the sea |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location sea=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Canyons are dug by people

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t7:o2:1
# text = Canyons are dug by people
1	Canyons	canyon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	dug	dig	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:agent	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dig** | present · passive | people | Canyons |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Canyons are made by the wind blowing sand, never by rivers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t7:o3:1
# text = Canyons are made by the wind blowing sand, never by rivers
1	Canyons	canyon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	blowing	blow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive | the wind | Canyons |  |  |  | by rivers | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset subject=Product |
| 2 | **blow** | gerund | the wind *not said here* | sand |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent sand=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Canyons like the Grand Canyon take millions of years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t7:o4:1
# text = Canyons like the Grand Canyon take millions of years
1	Canyons	canyon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
2	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Grand	Grand	PROPN	NNP	_	5	compound	_	_
5	Canyon	Canyon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
6	take	take	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	millions	million	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | present | Canyons like the Grand Canyon | millions of years |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent million=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Rivers shaping the land, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/53-rivers-shaping-the-land/t6/)
- next →: [Rivers shaping the land, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/53-rivers-shaping-the-land/t8/)
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