---
title: What would happen to Uruk's fields if all the canals filled with mud? — Mesopotamia: the first cities and writ… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to Uruk's fields if all the canals filled with mud? Test 3 of lesson 3 «Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing» of the history 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 3 · Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to Uruk's fields if all the canals filled with mud?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** canals · **What happens:** happen, fill

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 3 «Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing» of the history 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/history/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t3:1
# text = What would happen to Uruk's fields if all the canals filled with mud?
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	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	Uruk	Uruk	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	11	det:predet	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	canals	canal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to Uruk's fields | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fill** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | all canals |  |  |  |  | with mud | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with mud=Instrument |

<!-- .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 river would flow uphill instead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t3:o1:1
# text = The river would flow uphill instead
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	flow	flow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	uphill	uphill	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flow** | would | the river |  |  |  |  | instead, uphill *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fields would grow more wheat than ever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t3:o2:1
# text = The fields would grow more wheat than ever
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	wheat	wheat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | the fields | more wheat |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wheat=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The crops would dry up and the city go hungry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t3:o3:1
# text = The crops would dry up and the city go hungry
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	crops	crop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	dry	dry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
10	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dry up** | would | the crops |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **go** | infinitive | the city |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, it rained there every day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t3:o4:1
# text = Nothing, it rained there every day
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	rained	rain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rain** | past | Nothing |  |  | there | day |  | vn weather-57 «It V PP.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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