---
title: Why are big river floods so deadly? — Rivers shaping the land · tree and pragmatics
description: Why are big river floods so deadly? Test 9 · ★ 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 9 · ★ · Rivers shaping the land

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why are big river floods so deadly?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** big river · **What happens:** be, flood · **To what, where:** big river

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t9:1
# text = Why are big river floods so deadly?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	floods	flood	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	deadly	deadly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | big river |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **flood** | present | big river |  |  |  |  | deadly *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Flood water is boiling hot

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t9:o1:1
# text = Flood water is boiling hot
1	Flood	flood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	boiling	boil	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **boil** | present · progressive | Flood water |  |  |  |  | hot *property* | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Floods happen without any water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t9:o2:1
# text = Floods happen without any water
1	Floods	flood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happen	happen	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	without	without	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | present | Floods |  |  |  |  | without any water | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rivers flood only in empty deserts, far from any towns

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t9:o3:1
# text = Rivers flood only in empty deserts, far from any towns
1	Rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	flood	flood	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	deserts	desert	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	towns	town	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flood** | present | Rivers |  |  | empty deserts |  | from any towns | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Many people live and farm on the flat land beside rivers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:53-rivers-shaping-the-land:t9:o4:1
# text = Many people live and farm on the flat land beside rivers
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	farm	farm	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | Many people |  |  | the flat land beside rivers |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on land=Location |
| 2 | **farm** | present | Many people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn rear-26.2.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [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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