---
title: Why might the Swiss avoid naming an official capital? — Europe: countries and capitals · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might the Swiss avoid naming an official capital? Test 8 of lesson 7 «Europe: countries and capitals» 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 · Europe: countries and capitals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might the Swiss avoid naming an official capital?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Swiss · **What happens:** avoid, name · **To what, where:** official capital

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 7 «Europe: countries and capitals» 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/7-europe-countries-and-capitals/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:7-europe-countries-and-capitals:t8:1
# text = Why might the Swiss avoid naming an official capital?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Swiss	Swis	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	avoid	avoid	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	naming	name	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	official	official	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	capital	capital	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **avoid** | might | the Swiss |  |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **name** | gerund | the Swiss *not said here* | a official capital |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent capital=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 -->
Because Bern is in France

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:7-europe-countries-and-capitals:t8:o1:1
# text = Because Bern is in France
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	Bern	Bern	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	France	France	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Bern |  |  | France |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To keep the cantons equal, with no city above the others

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:7-europe-countries-and-capitals:t8:o2:1
# text = To keep the cantons equal, with no city above the others
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cantons	canton	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	equal	equal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	above	above	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | the cantons |  |  |  | with no city above the others; equal *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent canton=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the Pope forbids it in the old treaty with the Swiss

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:7-europe-countries-and-capitals:t8:o3:1
# text = Because the Pope forbids it in the old treaty with the Swiss
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Pope	Pope	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	forbids	forbid	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	treaty	treaty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Swiss	Swiss	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forbid** | present | the Pope | it |  | the old treaty |  | with the Swiss | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer it=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because Switzerland has no cities

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:7-europe-countries-and-capitals:t8:o4:1
# text = Because Switzerland has no cities
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	Switzerland	Switzerland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Switzerland | no cities |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent city=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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- ← previous: [Europe: countries and capitals, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/7-europe-countries-and-capitals/t7/)
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