---
title: Why did Mesopotamian farmers need canals but jungle farmers might not? — Mesopotamia: the first cities and writ… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did Mesopotamian farmers need canals but jungle farmers might not? Test 6 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 6 · Mesopotamia: the first cities and writing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did Mesopotamian farmers need canals but jungle farmers might not?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mesopotamian farmers · **What happens:** need · **To what, where:** canals

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t6:1
# text = Why did Mesopotamian farmers need canals but jungle farmers might not?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	Mesopotamian	mesopotamian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	farmers	farmer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	canals	canal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	jungle	jungle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	farmers	farmer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | Mesopotamian farmers | canals |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot canal=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 -->
Jungle plants do not need water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t6:o1:1
# text = Jungle plants do not need water
1	Jungle	jungle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | present · do-support | Jungle plants | water |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot water=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Canals were only for fun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t6:o2:1
# text = Canals were only for fun
1	Canals	canal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Canals |  |  |  |  | for fun | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mesopotamia was dry and needed river water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t6:o3:1
# text = Mesopotamia was dry and needed river water
1	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Mesopotamia |  |  |  |  | dry *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **need** | past | Mesopotamia *not said here* | river water |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot water=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mesopotamia had too much rain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing:t6:o4:1
# text = Mesopotamia had too much rain
1	Mesopotamia	Mesopotamia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Mesopotamia | much rain |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rain=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: [Mesopotamia: the first cities and writ…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/t5/)
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