---
title: A city drains its marshes to build houses. What might happen next? — Rivers, lakes and the sea up close · tree and pragmatics
description: A city drains its marshes to build houses. What might happen next? Test 6 of lesson 64 «Rivers, lakes and the sea up close» 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 6 · Rivers, lakes and the sea up close

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A city drains its marshes to build houses. What might happen next?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** city · **What happens:** drain, build, happen · **To what, where:** marshes, houses

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 64 «Rivers, lakes and the sea up close» 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/64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A city drains its marshes to build houses.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:t6:1
# text = A city drains its marshes to build houses.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	drains	drain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	marshes	marsh	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
8	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drain** | present | a city | city's marshes |  |  |  |  | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent marsh=Source |
| 2 | **build** | to-infinitive | a city *not said here* | houses |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset house=Product |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What might happen next?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:t6:2
# text = What might happen next?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	next	next	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | might |  |  |  |  |  | next *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Floods become worse because nothing soaks up the water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:t6:o1:1
# text = Floods become worse because nothing soaks up the water
1	Floods	flood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	become	become	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
4	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	nsubj	_	_
6	soaks	soak	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | present | Floods |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **soak up** | present | nothing | the water |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent water=Source |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sea becomes fresh

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:t6:o2:1
# text = The sea becomes fresh
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	becomes	become	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | present | the sea |  |  |  |  | fresh *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
More birds come to live there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:t6:o3:1
# text = More birds come to live there
1	More	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	amod	_	_
2	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | present | More birds |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **live** | to-infinitive | More birds *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The river stops flowing completely and dries up into a muddy ditch

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:t6:o4:1
# text = The river stops flowing completely and dries up into a muddy ditch
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	flowing	flow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	completely	completely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	dries	dry	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	muddy	muddy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	ditch	ditch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | the river |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **flow** | gerund | the river *not said here* |  |  |  |  | completely *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **dry up** | present | the river *not said here* |  |  | a muddy ditch |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «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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