Test 8 · ★ · Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 1…

Real life: was the Sahara always a desert?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Real life · What happens: be · To what, where: desert

This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 90 «Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 1: the Eldest Magician and the sea that will not behave» of the books 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 life	amod
2	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 desert	nsubj
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	2 life	punct
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 desert	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 Sahara	det
6	Sahara	Sahara	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 desert	nsubj
7	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	9 desert	advmod
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 desert	det
9	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
10	?	?	PUNCT	_	9 desert	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	past	Real life	a desert				always property	tree rules

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

Option 1

No: it was green with lakes and forests until about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, then the climate dried

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 green	det
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	5 green	punct
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 green	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 green	cop
5	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 lakes	case
7	lakes	lake	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 green	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 forests	cc
9	forests	forest	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 lakes	conj
10	until	until	ADP	_	15 years	case
11	about	about	ADV	_	12 5,000	advmod
12	5,000	5000	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	15 years	nummod
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 6,000	case
14	6,000	6000	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	12 5,000	nmod
15	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 lakes	nmod
16	ago	ago	ADV	_	15 years	advmod
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 climate	punct
18	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	20 climate	advmod
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 climate	det
20	climate	climate	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 green	conj
21	dried	dry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	20 climate	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	it					with lakes until 5,000 years and forests; green property	tree rules
2	dry	participle		the climate not said here					vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2

Yes, it has been a desert for millions of years now

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	7 desert	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 desert	nsubj
4	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 desert	aux
5	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 desert	cop
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 desert	det
7	desert	desert	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 millions	case
9	millions	million	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 desert	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 years	case
11	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 millions	nmod
12	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	7 desert	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present · perfect	it	a desert			now	for millions of years	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

No: it was green with lakes until about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 green	det
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	5 green	punct
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 green	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 green	cop
5	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 lakes	case
7	lakes	lake	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 green	obl
8	until	until	ADP	_	13 years	case
9	about	about	ADV	_	10 5,000	advmod
10	5,000	5000	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	13 years	nummod
11	to	to	ADP	_	12 6,000	case
12	6,000	6000	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	10 5,000	nmod
13	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 green	obl:unmarked
14	ago	ago	ADV	_	13 years	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	it				year	with lakes; green property	tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

No: it was green with lakes and rivers until about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, when the rains moved away

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 green	det
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	5 green	punct
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 green	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 green	cop
5	green	green	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 moved	advmod
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 lakes	case
7	lakes	lake	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 green	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 rivers	cc
9	rivers	river	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 lakes	conj
10	until	until	ADP	_	15 years	case
11	about	about	ADV	_	12 5,000	advmod
12	5,000	5000	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	15 years	nummod
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 6,000	case
14	6,000	6000	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	12 5,000	nmod
15	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 ago	obl:unmarked
16	ago	ago	ADV	_	5 green	advmod
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 moved	punct
18	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	21 moved	advmod
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 rains	det
20	rains	rain	NOUN	Number=Plur	21 moved	nsubj
21	moved	move	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
22	away	away	ADV	_	21 moved	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	it					with lakes and rivers; ago, green property	tree rules
2	move away	past	the rains					away property	vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

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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