---
title: Why could neither side break through on the Western Front for years? — The First World War · tree and pragmatics
description: Why could neither side break through on the Western Front for years? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 33 «The First World War» 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 · ★ · The First World War

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why could neither side break through on the Western Front for years?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** break through · **To what, where:** side, Western Front

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 33 «The First World War» 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/33-the-first-world-war/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:33-the-first-world-war:t3:1
# text = Why could neither side break through on the Western Front for years?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
5	break	break	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Western	western	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	Front	Front	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break through** | present |  | neither side |  | the Western Front | year |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on front=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
The trenches were filled with water every day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:33-the-first-world-war:t3:o1:1
# text = The trenches were filled with water every day
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	trenches	trench	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fill** | past · passive |  | the trenches |  |  | day | with water | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with water=Instrument |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were not allowed to move

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:33-the-first-world-war:t3:o2:1
# text = They were not allowed to move
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **allow** | past · passive |  | They |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **move** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both sides were dug into strong trenches with deadly new weapons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:33-the-first-world-war:t3:o3:1
# text = Both sides were dug into strong trenches with deadly new weapons
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	dug	dig	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	trenches	trench	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	deadly	deadly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	weapons	weapon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dig** | past · passive |  | both sides |  | strong trenches |  | with deadly new weapons | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.instsrument»: subject=Theme with weapon=Instrument |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody wanted to win

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:33-the-first-world-war:t3:o4:1
# text = Nobody wanted to win
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	win	win	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | Nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **win** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Nobody *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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