--- title: What would a country stretching thousands of kilometres need to hold… — Canada: a short story · tree and pragmatics description: What would a country stretching thousands of kilometres need to hold it together in 1885? Test 4 of lesson 39 «Canada: 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 wrong. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/39-canada-a-short-story/t4/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [History](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/) / [Canada: a short story](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/39-canada-a-short-story/) / t4 # Test 4 · Canada: a short story What would a country stretching thousands of kilometres need to hold it together in 1885? **Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** country, thousands · **What happens:** stretch, need, hold · **To what, where:** country, 1885 This is test 4 of lesson 39 «Canada: 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/39-canada-a-short-story/#t4). ## The question {#question} ```conllu # sent_id = question:history:39-canada-a-short-story:t4:1 # text = What would a country stretching thousands of kilometres need to hold it together in 1885? 1 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 5 obj _ _ 2 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 country country NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 stretching stretch VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 6 thousands thousand NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nsubj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 kilometres kilometre NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ _ 9 need need VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 hold hold VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 xcomp _ _ 12 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obj _ _ 13 together together ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ _ 14 in in ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 1885 1885 NUM CD NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 ? ? PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **stretch** | would | a country | | | | | | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent what=Patient | | 2 | **need** | present | thousands of kilometres | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 3 | **hold** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | thousands of kilometres *not said here* | country | | 1885 | | together *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme in 1885=Location | 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} A bigger castle ```conllu # sent_id = question:history:39-canada-a-short-story:t4:o1:1 # text = A bigger castle 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 bigger big ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 3 amod _ _ 3 castle castle NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2} A railway linking east and west ```conllu # sent_id = question:history:39-canada-a-short-story:t4:o2:1 # text = A railway linking east and west 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 railway railway NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 3 linking link VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 2 acl _ _ 4 east east ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 6 west west ADV RB _ 4 conj _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **link** | gerund | a railway *not said here* | | | | | east *property* | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | ### Option 3 {#o3} More beavers ```conllu # sent_id = question:history:39-canada-a-short-story:t4:o3:1 # text = More beavers 1 More more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 2 amod _ _ 2 beavers beaver NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. ### Option 4 {#o4} A wall around it ```conllu # sent_id = question:history:39-canada-a-short-story:t4:o4:1 # text = A wall around it 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 wall wall NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 3 around around ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 4 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nmod _ _ ``` The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence. **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. - ← previous: [Canada: a short story, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/39-canada-a-short-story/t3/) - next →: [Canada: a short story, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/39-canada-a-short-story/t5/) - ↑ back to [Canada: a short story](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/history/39-canada-a-short-story/)