---
title: Ben stares at the Burj Khalifa: "Bro, how is it not falling down?" W… — Cities then and now: the biggest citie… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ben stares at the Burj Khalifa: "Bro, how is it not falling down?" What would happen if there were no safe lifts? Test 6 of lesson 74 «Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and of today» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the que
---

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# Test 6 · Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and o…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ben stares at the Burj Khalifa: "Bro, how is it not falling down?" What would happen if there were no safe lifts?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Ben, Bro, safe lifts · **What happens:** stare, not be, happen, be · **To what, where:** Burj Khalifa

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 74 «Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and of today» 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/74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Ben stares at the Burj Khalifa: "Bro, how is it not falling down?"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t6:1
# text = Ben stares at the Burj Khalifa: "Bro, how is it not falling down?"
1	Ben	Ben	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stares	stare	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	Burj	Burj	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	Khalifa	Khalifa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	acl:relcl	_	_
16	down	down	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stare** | present | Ben |  |  | the Burj Khalifa |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | present | Bro |  |  |  |  | fall *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What would happen if there were no safe lifts?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t6:2
# text = What would happen if there were no safe lifts?
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	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
8	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	lifts	lift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | no safe lifts |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stairs would be faster than lifts anyway, so nothing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t6:o1:1
# text = Stairs would be faster than lifts anyway, so nothing
1	Stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
4	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	lifts	lift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	anyway	anyway	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | Stairs |  |  |  |  | than lifts; anyway, fast *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Very tall buildings would be almost useless for people

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t6:o2:1
# text = Very tall buildings would be almost useless for people
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	buildings	building	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
6	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | tall buildings |  |  |  |  | for people; almost, useless *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Buildings would just grow taller and taller

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t6:o3:1
# text = Buildings would just grow taller and taller
1	Buildings	building	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing at all, bro, lifts are just there for fun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t6:o4:1
# text = Nothing at all, bro, lifts are just there for fun
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	bro	bro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	lifts	lift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	just	just	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	1	parataxis	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

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

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

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