---
title: Why does a river flowing into a calm sea build a delta while one flo… — Rivers shaping the land · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does a river flowing into a calm sea build a delta while one flowing into a stormy sea may not? Test 8 · ★ 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 right.
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Rivers shaping the land

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does a river flowing into a calm sea build a delta while one flowing into a stormy sea may not?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** river · **What happens:** flow, build · **To what, where:** calm sea, delta, stormy sea

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This is test 8 · ★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t8:1
# text = Why does a river flowing into a calm sea build a delta while one flowing into a stormy sea may not?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
5	flowing	flow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	calm	calm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	delta	delta	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nsubj	_	_
15	flowing	flow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	acl	_	_
16	into	into	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	stormy	stormy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flow** | gerund | a river *not said here* |  |  | a calm sea |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **build** | present · do-support | a river | a delta |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset delta=Product |
| 3 | **flow** | gerund |  |  |  | a stormy sea |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Calm seas push rivers backwards

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t8:o1:1
# text = Calm seas push rivers backwards
1	Calm	calm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	seas	sea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	push	push	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | present | Calm seas | rivers |  |  |  | backwards *property* | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent river=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Calm seas cannot carry the sediment away fast enough

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t8:o2:1
# text = Calm seas cannot carry the sediment away fast enough
1	Calm	calm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	seas	sea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sediment	sediment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
9	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
10	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **carry away** | can | Calm seas | the sediment |  |  |  | away, fast *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sediment=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stormy seas freeze the sediment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t8:o3:1
# text = Stormy seas freeze the sediment
1	Stormy	stormy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	seas	sea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	freeze	freeze	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sediment	sediment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** | present | Stormy seas | the sediment |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient sediment=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stormy seas have no salt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t8:o4:1
# text = Stormy seas have no salt
1	Stormy	stormy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	seas	sea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Stormy seas | no salt |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Patient |

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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.

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