---
title: What would happen if a cold country stopped gritting its roads? — Roads and road signs · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a cold country stopped gritting its roads? Test 4 · ★ 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/31-roads-and-road-signs/t4/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Technology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/) / [Roads and road signs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/31-roads-and-road-signs/) / t4

# Test 4 · ★ · Roads and road signs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a cold country stopped gritting its roads?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cold country · **What happens:** happen, stop, grit · **To what, where:** roads

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t4:1
# text = What would happen if a cold country stopped gritting its roads?
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	_	8	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
9	gritting	grit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	xcomp	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	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 | **stop** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a cold country |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **grit** | gerund | a cold country *not said here* | country's roads |  |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
More ice would form on roads in frosts, and more cars would skid

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t4:o1:1
# text = More ice would form on roads in frosts, and more cars would skid
1	More	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	amod	_	_
2	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	form	form	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	frosts	frost	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	amod	_	_
12	cars	car	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	skid	skid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **form** | would | More ice |  |  | roads |  | in frosts | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on road=Location |
| 2 | **skid** | would | more cars |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The roads would melt in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t4:o2:1
# text = The roads would melt in winter
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	melt	melt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **melt** | would | the roads |  |  |  | winter |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Roads would stay dry because ice cannot form on asphalt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t4:o3:1
# text = Roads would stay dry because ice cannot form on asphalt
1	Roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	form	form	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	asphalt	asphalt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | would | Roads |  |  |  |  | dry *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **form** | can | ice |  |  | asphalt |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on asphalt=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, salt does not change ice at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:31-roads-and-road-signs:t4:o4:1
# text = Nothing, salt does not change ice at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **change** | present · do-support | Nothing salt | ice |  | all |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ice=Patient |

<!-- 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: [Roads and road signs, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/31-roads-and-road-signs/t3/)
- next →: [Roads and road signs, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/31-roads-and-road-signs/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Roads and road signs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/31-roads-and-road-signs/)