---
title: What would happen if we kept burning fossil fuels at today's rate fo… — Coal, oil and gas · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if we kept burning fossil fuels at today's rate for centuries? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 59 «Coal, oil and gas» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/59-coal-oil-and-gas/t4/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Geography](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/) / [Coal, oil and gas](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/59-coal-oil-and-gas/) / t4

# Test 4 · ★ · Coal, oil and gas

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if we kept burning fossil fuels at today's rate for centuries?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** we · **What happens:** happen, keep, burn · **To what, where:** fossil fuels, rate

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 59 «Coal, oil and gas» 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/59-coal-oil-and-gas/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:59-coal-oil-and-gas:t4:1
# text = What would happen if we kept burning fossil fuels at today's rate for centuries?
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	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
8	fossil	fossil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	fuels	fuel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	rate	rate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	centuries	century	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	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 | **keep** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | we |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **burn** | gerund | we *not said here* | fossil fuels |  | today's rate | century |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent fuel=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The climate would cool down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:59-coal-oil-and-gas:t4:o1:1
# text = The climate would cool down
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	climate	climate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	cool	cool	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cool down** | would | the climate |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would run out, and the warming would get much worse

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:59-coal-oil-and-gas:t4:o2:1
# text = They would run out, and the warming would get much worse
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	warming	warming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
11	much	much	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run out** | would | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **get** | would | the warming |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The air would get cleaner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:59-coal-oil-and-gas:t4:o3:1
# text = The air would get cleaner
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	cleaner	cleaner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | the air | cleaner |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cleaner=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would grow back faster than we can ever use them up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:59-coal-oil-and-gas:t4:o4:1
# text = They would grow back faster than we can ever use them up
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	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	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
6	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	10	advmod	_	_
10	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	up	up	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow back** | would | They |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **use up** | can | we | them *= they* |  |  | ever |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

<!-- 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: [Coal, oil and gas, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/59-coal-oil-and-gas/t3/)
- next →: [Coal, oil and gas, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/59-coal-oil-and-gas/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Coal, oil and gas](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/59-coal-oil-and-gas/)