---
title: Why does the Mississippi flow south to the Gulf of Mexico and not no… — Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mo… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does the Mississippi flow south to the Gulf of Mexico and not north? Test 8 · ★★★ 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 w
---

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# Test 8 · ★★★ · Thinking like a geographer: rivers, mountains and deserts

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does the Mississippi flow south to the Gulf of Mexico and not north?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mississippi · **What happens:** flow

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t8:1
# text = Why does the Mississippi flow south to the Gulf of Mexico and not north?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Mississippi	Mississippi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	flow	flow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	south	south	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Gulf	Gulf	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Mexico	Mexico	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	north	north	ADV	RB	_	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flow** | present · do-support | the Mississippi |  |  |  |  | to the Gulf of Mexico; south *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The land slopes down towards the Gulf of Mexico

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t8:o1:1
# text = The land slopes down towards the Gulf of Mexico
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	slopes	slope	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Gulf	Gulf	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Mexico	Mexico	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slope down** | present | the land |  |  |  |  | towards the Gulf of Mexico | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Gulf pulls water towards it with its salt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t8:o2:1
# text = The Gulf pulls water towards it with its salt
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Gulf	gulf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pulls	pull	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | present | the Gulf | water |  | water |  | with water's salt | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent water=Theme towards it=Destination |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rivers in America must flow south by law of nature

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t8:o3:1
# text = Rivers in America must flow south by law of nature
1	Rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	America	America	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	flow	flow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	south	south	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flow** | must | Rivers in America |  |  |  |  | by law of nature; south *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by law=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The north wind pushes the water south

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:50-why-the-earth-is-so:t8:o4:1
# text = The north wind pushes the water south
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	north	north	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	pushes	push	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	south	south	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | present | the north wind | the water |  |  |  | south *property* | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme |

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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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