---
title: how come rain isn't salty if it comes from the sea — The water cycle · tree and pragmatics
description: how come rain isn't salty if it comes from the sea Test 11 · ★ of lesson 14 «The water cycle» of the world 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 11 · ★ · The water cycle

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
how come rain isn't salty if it comes from the sea

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** come rain, rain · **What happens:** not be, come · **To what, where:** sea

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 14 «The water cycle» of the world 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/world/14-the-water-cycle/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:14-the-water-cycle:t11:1
# text = how come rain isn't salty if it comes from the sea
1	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	come	come	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	salty	salty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | come rain |  |  |  |  | salty *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | rain |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from sea=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 -->
The clouds filter the salt out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:14-the-water-cycle:t11:o1:1
# text = The clouds filter the salt out
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	clouds	cloud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	filter	filter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **filter out** | present | the clouds | the salt |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent salt=Initial\_Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rain is salty, we just can't taste it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:14-the-water-cycle:t11:o2:1
# text = The rain is salty, we just can't taste it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	salty	salty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	just	just	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	taste	taste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the rain |  |  |  |  | salty *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **taste** | can | we | rain |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Theme it=Attribute |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wind blows the salt away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:14-the-water-cycle:t11:o3:1
# text = The wind blows the salt away
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	blows	blow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow away** | present | the wind | the salt |  |  |  | away *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent salt=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The salt stays behind when seawater evaporates

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:14-the-water-cycle:t11:o4:1
# text = The salt stays behind when seawater evaporates
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stays	stay	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	behind	behind	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	7	mark	_	_
6	seawater	seawater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	evaporates	evaporate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | present | the salt |  |  |  |  | behind *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **evaporate** | present | seawater |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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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