---
title: Why do roundabouts often keep traffic moving better than lights at a… — Roads and road signs · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do roundabouts often keep traffic moving better than lights at a quiet junction? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 31 «Roads and road signs» 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 10 · ★ · Roads and road signs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do roundabouts often keep traffic moving better than lights at a quiet junction?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** roundabouts, traffic · **What happens:** do, keep, move · **To what, where:** traffic, quiet junction

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 31 «Roads and road signs» 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/31-roads-and-road-signs/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t10:1
# text = Why do roundabouts often keep traffic moving better than lights at a quiet junction?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
3	roundabouts	roundabout	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	often	often	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	traffic	traffic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	moving	move	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	xcomp	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	lights	light	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	junction	junction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | roundabouts *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **keep** | present | roundabouts | traffic |  |  |  | often *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent traffic=Theme |
| 3 | **move** | gerund | traffic *not said here* |  |  | a quiet junction |  | good *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme at junction=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 -->
Roundabouts make cars drive faster than the limit

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t10:o1:1
# text = Roundabouts make cars drive faster than the limit
1	Roundabouts	roundabout	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	cars	car	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	drive	drive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	limit	limit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Roundabouts | cars |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **drive** | infinitive | cars *not said here* |  |  |  |  | than the limit; fast *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cars only stop when something is coming, not on a timer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t10:o2:1
# text = Cars only stop when something is coming, not on a timer
1	Cars	car	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
5	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	timer	timer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | Cars |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **come** | present · progressive | something |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cars can go round as many times as they like until they find a gap in the traffic

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t10:o3:1
# text = Cars can go round as many times as they like until they find a gap in the traffic
1	Cars	car	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	round	round	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	as	as	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
11	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	find	find	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	gap	gap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	traffic	traffic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go round** | can | Cars |  |  |  | time | round *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **like** | present | Cars *= car* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **find** | present | Cars *= car* | a gap |  | the traffic |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gap=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lights stop all traffic for hours

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t10:o4:1
# text = Lights stop all traffic for hours
1	Lights	light	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	traffic	traffic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | Lights | all traffic |  |  | hour |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality traffic=Eventuality |

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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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