---
title: «the house cracked in the drought, how? there's no earthquake» What… — Bridges and skyscrapers · tree and pragmatics
description: «the house cracked in the drought, how? there's no earthquake» What is a likely reason? Test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 30 «Bridges and skyscrapers» of the technology 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 · ★★★ · Bridges and skyscrapers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«the house cracked in the drought, how? there's no earthquake» What is a likely reason?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** house · **What happens:** crack, be · **To what, where:** drought, likely reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 30 «Bridges and skyscrapers» of the technology 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/technology/30-bridges-and-skyscrapers/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:30-bridges-and-skyscrapers:t9:1
# text = «the house cracked in the drought, how? there's no earthquake» What is a likely reason?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	cracked	crack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	drought	drought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
13	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	14	det	_	_
14	earthquake	earthquake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
16	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	20	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crack** *in a quote* | past | the house |  |  | the drought |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in drought=Location |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | a likely reason |  |  |  |  | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Drought makes bricks melt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:30-bridges-and-skyscrapers:t9:o1:1
# text = Drought makes bricks melt
1	Drought	drought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	bricks	brick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	melt	melt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Drought | bricks |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **melt** | infinitive | bricks *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dry air pushes on the walls

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:30-bridges-and-skyscrapers:t9:o2:1
# text = Dry air pushes on the walls
1	Dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pushes	push	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | present | Dry air |  |  |  |  | on the walls | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent on wall=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The heat makes houses grow taller

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:30-bridges-and-skyscrapers:t9:o3:1
# text = The heat makes houses grow taller
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | the heat | houses |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | infinitive | houses *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tall *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It stands on clay, which shrinks in very dry summers and moves the foundations

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:30-bridges-and-skyscrapers:t9:o4:1
# text = It stands on clay, which shrinks in very dry summers and moves the foundations
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stands	stand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	shrinks	shrink	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	summers	summer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	moves	move	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	foundations	foundation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | present | It |  |  | clay |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on clay=Location |
| 2 | **shrink** | present | clay |  |  |  | summer |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **move** | present |  | the foundations |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent foundation=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Bridges and skyscrapers, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/30-bridges-and-skyscrapers/t8/)
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