--- title: Water, deserts and the shape of the land — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Water, deserts and the shape of the land», a lesson of the myths course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: "Mate, in Australia the toilet flushes the OTHER way round. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/) / Water, deserts and the shape of the land # Water, deserts and the shape of the land Lesson 16 of the myths course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/0/) — "Mate, in Australia the toilet flushes the OTHER way round. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/1/) — It's the Coriolis effect, it's science!" Your cousin is back from Sydney and he says it like a man who has seen the edge of the world. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/2/) — Add quicksand that swallows explorers whole, glass that slowly drips down old church windows, and diamonds squeezed out of lumps of coal, and you have the best playground geography there is. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/4/) — The Coriolis effect is real, but it only steers huge things like hurricanes; a toilet bowl is far too small, so its swirl comes from the shape of the bowl and the way the water rushes in. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/5/) — Many arguments are really about words. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/6/) — "Biggest desert" depends on what a desert is (a place with very little rain or snow, so frozen Antarctica counts), and "tallest mountain" depends on whether you measure from the sea or from the mountain's own foot on the sea floor. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/7/) — The best weapon is a simple test. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/8/) — Pull the plug in your sink five times, balance an egg on an ordinary Tuesday, leave salty water in the sun, stir cornflour and water into gloop: the world answers for itself. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/9/) — And when your friend clings to his story, you don't need to win; say what is real in it, then offer to test it together. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/10/) — The Coriolis effect is real and makes hurricanes spin opposite ways in the north and south of the world, but it is far too weak to decide which way a sink or toilet drains. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/11/) — A desert is a place with very little rain or snow; the biggest desert is Antarctica, and the Sahara is the biggest hot desert. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/12/) — Most of the world's deserts are rock, gravel, mountains or ice; only about a fifth to a quarter of the Sahara is sand dunes. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/13/) — Mount Everest has the highest peak above sea level, 8,849 metres; measured from its base on the sea floor, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is taller, over 10,000 metres, though most of it is hidden under the sea. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/15/) — Diamonds and coal are both made of carbon, but most diamonds formed deep in the Earth long before the land plants that made coal existed. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/16/) — The Nile is usually listed as the longest river, but some studies say the Amazon, because experts disagree about where each river starts; the Amazon carries by far the most water. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/17/) — The sea is salty because rain wears tiny bits of minerals from rocks and rivers carry them to the sea; the water evaporates (dries up into the air) and the salt stays behind. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/18/) — Quicksand can trap your legs, but a person floats in it and does not sink over their head; you get free by moving slowly and leaning back. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/19/) — Earthquakes start kilometres underground, and the weather has no effect on them; there is no such thing as "earthquake weather". - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/20/) — With patience you can balance an egg on its end on any day of the year; the "only on the equinox" story was spread by a newspaper story in 1945. - ← previous: [Weather, lightning and storms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/15-weather-lightning-and-storms/) - next →: [Magnets, compasses and big Earth facts](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/17-magnets-compasses-and-big-earth-facts/) - ↑ back to [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/)