---
title: Why was the capital of the United States put outside every state? — The United States · tree and pragmatics
description: Why was the capital of the United States put outside every state? Test 1 · ★★ of lesson 9 «The United States» 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 1 · ★★ · The United States

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why was the capital of the United States put outside every state?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** capital, United States · **What happens:** be, put · **To what, where:** state

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This is test 1 · ★★ of lesson 9 «The United States» 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/9-the-united-states/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t1:1
# text = Why was the capital of the United States put outside every state?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	capital	capital	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	United	United	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	States	State	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
9	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the capital of the United States |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **put** | participle | the United States *not said here* | every state |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent state=Goal |

<!-- .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 it was a Native town

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t1:o1:1
# text = Because it was a Native town
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	Native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | it | a Native town |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the British chose the place

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t1:o2:1
# text = Because the British chose the place
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nsubj	_	_
4	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | past | the British | the place |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because no state wanted it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t1:o3:1
# text = Because no state wanted it
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | no state | it |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So no single state would control the government

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t1:o4:1
# text = So no single state would control the government
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
3	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	control	control	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **control** | would | no single state | the government |  |  |  |  | vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent government=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.

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- ← previous: [The British Isles and the United Kingdom, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/8-the-british-isles-and-the-united-kingdom/e4/)
- next →: [The United States, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/9-the-united-states/t2/)
- ↑ back to [The United States](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/9-the-united-states/)