---
title: Why did early people often build towns beside rivers and coasts? — Transport: from horses to planes · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did early people often build towns beside rivers and coasts? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 99 «Transport: from horses to planes» 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.
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Transport: from horses to planes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did early people often build towns beside rivers and coasts?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** early people · **What happens:** build · **To what, where:** towns, rivers

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 99 «Transport: from horses to planes» 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/99-transport-horses-to-planes/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:t9:1
# text = Why did early people often build towns beside rivers and coasts?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	often	often	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	build	build	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	towns	town	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
8	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	coasts	coast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past · do-support | early people | towns |  | rivers and coasts |  | often *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent town=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rivers kept away every kind of wild, dangerous animal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:t9:o1:1
# text = Rivers kept away every kind of wild, dangerous animal
1	Rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
3	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep away** | participle | Rivers *not said here* | every kind of wild dangerous animal |  |  |  | away *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kind=Theme |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Boats made travel and trade easier there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:t9:o2:1
# text = Boats made travel and trade easier there
1	Boats	boat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	travel	travel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
6	easier	easy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
7	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | Boats | travel and trade |  | there |  | easy *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material travel=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Roads could not be built inland

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:t9:o3:1
# text = Roads could not be built inland
1	Roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	inland	inland	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **build** | could · passive |  | Roads |  |  |  | inland *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It never rained beside rivers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:t9:o4:1
# text = It never rained beside rivers
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	rained	rain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **rain** | past | It |  |  | rivers |  |  | vn weather-57 «It V PP.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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