---
title: Why did the United States go so long without an official language? — The United States · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did the United States go so long without an official language? Test 9 · ★★ 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 9 · ★★ · The United States

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did the United States go so long without an official language?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** United States · **What happens:** go

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

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t9:1
# text = Why did the United States go so long without an official language?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	United	United	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	States	State	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
9	without	without	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	official	official	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · do-support | the United States |  |  |  |  | without a official language; long *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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 -->
The Spanish king forbade it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t9:o1:1
# text = The Spanish king forbade it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	forbade	forbid	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 | **forbid** | past | the Spanish king | it |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer it=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
English was used everywhere anyway, and many languages were spoken

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t9:o2:1
# text = English was used everywhere anyway, and many languages were spoken
1	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
5	anyway	anyway	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past · passive |  | English |  |  |  | anyway, everywhere *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | many languages |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
English was banned after 1776

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t9:o3:1
# text = English was banned after 1776
1	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	banned	ban	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	after	after	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	1776	1776	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ban** | past · passive |  | English |  |  | after 1776 |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Congress could not agree on spelling

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:9-the-united-states:t9:o4:1
# text = Congress could not agree on spelling
1	Congress	Congress	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	agree	agree	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **agree** *speech: agree* | could | Congress |  |  |  |  | on spelling | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.theme S»: agent=Agent on spelling=Topic |

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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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