---
title: Why did the USA become one of the most powerful countries after the… — The United States: a short story · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did the USA become one of the most powerful countries after the World Wars? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 38 «The United States: a short story» 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 right.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · The United States: a short story

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did the USA become one of the most powerful countries after the World Wars?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** USA · **What happens:** become

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 38 «The United States: a short story» 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/38-the-united-states-a-short-story/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t9:1
# text = Why did the USA become one of the most powerful countries after the World Wars?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	USA	USA	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	xcomp	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	10	advmod	_	_
10	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	countries	country	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
12	after	after	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	World	World	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	Wars	War	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past · do-support | the USA |  |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
It was the oldest country in the world

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t9:o1:1
# text = It was the oldest country in the world
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | the oldest country |  | the world |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It ruled all of Europe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t9:o2:1
# text = It ruled all of Europe
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ruled	rule	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Europe	Europe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rule** | past | It | all |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent all=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It helped win both wars and grew huge in industry and technology

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t9:o3:1
# text = It helped win both wars and grew huge in industry and technology
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	helped	help	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	win	win	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
4	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc:preconj	_	_
5	wars	war	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	industry	industry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	technology	technology	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **win** | infinitive |  | wars |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent war=Eventuality |
| 3 | **grow** | past |  |  |  | industry and technology |  | huge *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in industry=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It lost both wars, but Britain and France gave it their colonies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:38-the-united-states-a-short-story:t9:o4:1
# text = It lost both wars, but Britain and France gave it their colonies
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	wars	war	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	France	France	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	colonies	colony	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | past | It | both wars |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent war=Eventuality |
| 2 | **give** | past | Britain and France | it |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent it=Recipient colony=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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