---
title: rivers keep pouring into the sea, why doesn't it overflow — Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mo… · tree and pragmatics
description: rivers keep pouring into the sea, why doesn't it overflow Test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 50 «Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mountains and deserts» 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 wrong.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/50-why-the-earth-is-so/t11/)

<!-- 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/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/) / [Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mo…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/50-why-the-earth-is-so/) / t11

# Test 11 · ★★★ · Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mountains and deserts

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
rivers keep pouring into the sea, why doesn't it overflow

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** rivers, sea · **What happens:** keep, pour, not overflow · **To what, where:** sea

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 50 «Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mountains and deserts» 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/50-why-the-earth-is-so/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t11:1
# text = rivers keep pouring into the sea, why doesn't it overflow
1	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	pouring	pour	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
9	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	overflow	overflow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | rivers |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pour** | gerund | rivers *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into sea=Location |
| 3 | **not** **overflow** | present · do-support | sea |  |  |  |  |  | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rivers all stop flowing in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t11:o1:1
# text = The rivers all stop flowing in winter
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	flowing	flow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | the rivers |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **flow** | gerund | the rivers *not said here* |  |  |  | winter |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sea leaks away into the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t11:o2:1
# text = The sea leaks away into the Earth
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	leaks	leak	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leak away** | present | the sea |  |  | the Earth |  | away *property* | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into earth=Location |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It loses as much by evaporation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t11:o3:1
# text = It loses as much by evaporation
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	loses	lose	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	as	as	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	evaporation	evaporation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | present | It | much |  |  |  | by evaporation | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fish drink up all the extra water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t11:o4:1
# text = The fish drink up all the extra water
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	drink	drink	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	extra	extra	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink up** | present | the fish | all extra water |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- 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: [Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mo…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/50-why-the-earth-is-so/t10/)
- next →: [Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mo…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/50-why-the-earth-is-so/t12/)
- ↑ back to [Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mountains and deserts](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/50-why-the-earth-is-so/)