---
title: What would have happened if the Americas had not been there? — Explorers, scientists and inventors · tree and pragmatics
description: What would have happened if the Americas had not been there? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 20 «Explorers, scientists and inventors» of the myths 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 4 · ★ · Explorers, scientists and inventors

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would have happened if the Americas had not been there?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Americas · **What happens:** happen, not be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 20 «Explorers, scientists and inventors» of the myths 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/myths/20-explorers-scientists-and-inventors/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:20-explorers-scientists-and-inventors:t4:1
# text = What would have happened if the Americas had not been there?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Americas	AMERICAS	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	cop	_	_
11	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | the Americas |  |  |  |  | there *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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Columbus's crew would probably have run out of food before reaching Asia

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:20-explorers-scientists-and-inventors:t4:o1:1
# text = Columbus's crew would probably have run out of food before reaching Asia
1	Columbus	Columbus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	crew	crew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux	_	_
7	run	run	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	reaching	reach	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
13	Asia	Asia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | would · perfect · passive |  | Columbus's crew |  | food |  | probably *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme out food=Trajectory |
| 2 | **reach** | gerund |  | Asia |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent asia=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ships would have sailed off the edge of the world

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:20-explorers-scientists-and-inventors:t4:o2:1
# text = The ships would have sailed off the edge of the world
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	sailed	sail	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sail** | would · perfect · passive |  | the ships |  | the edge of the world |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme off edge=Trajectory |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Columbus would have reached China in three days

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:20-explorers-scientists-and-inventors:t4:o3:1
# text = Columbus would have reached China in three days
1	Columbus	Columbus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	reached	reach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | would · perfect | Columbus | China |  |  | day |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent china=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sea would have carried them back to Spain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:20-explorers-scientists-and-inventors:t4:o4:1
# text = The sea would have carried them back to Spain
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	back	back	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Spain	Spain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry back** | would · perfect · passive |  | the sea | Spain |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary they=Value |

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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: [Explorers, scientists and inventors, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/20-explorers-scientists-and-inventors/t3/)
- next →: [Explorers, scientists and inventors, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/myths/20-explorers-scientists-and-inventors/t5/)
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