Test 6 · ★ · Borders: why they are where they are
A friend says borders are natural and have always been where they are now. What is wrong?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: friend, borders · What happens: say, be · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 31 «Borders: why they are where they are» of the geography 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
Sentence 1: A friend says borders are natural and have always been where they are now.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 friend | det |
| 2 | friend | friend | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 says | nsubj |
| 3 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | borders | border | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 natural | nsubj |
| 5 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 natural | cop |
| 6 | natural | natural | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 says | ccomp |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 10 been | cc |
| 8 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 been | aux |
| 9 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 10 been | advmod |
| 10 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 natural | conj |
| 11 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 14 now | advmod |
| 12 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 now | nsubj |
| 13 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 now | cop |
| 14 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 10 been | advmod |
| 15 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 says | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present | a friend | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is | present | borders | natural property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | is | present | borders = border | now 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.
Sentence 2: What is wrong?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 wrong | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 wrong | cop |
| 3 | wrong | wrong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 wrong | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | wrong property | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
Borders are agreed by people and have changed many times
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borders | border | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 agreed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 agreed | aux:pass |
| 3 | agreed | agree | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | by | by | ADP | _ | 5 people | case |
| 5 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 agreed | obl:agent |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 changed | cc |
| 7 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 changed | aux |
| 8 | changed | change | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 agreed | conj |
| 9 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 times | amod |
| 10 | times | time | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 changed | obl:unmarked |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | agree speech: agree | present · passive | people | Borders | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent subject=Topic | ||||
| 2 | change | present · perfect | people not said here | time | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 2
Only African borders have ever changed
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Only | only | ADV | _ | 3 borders | advmod |
| 2 | African | African | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 borders | amod |
| 3 | borders | border | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 changed | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 changed | aux |
| 5 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 6 changed | advmod |
| 6 | changed | change | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | change | present · perfect · passive | African borders | ever | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
Option 3
Nothing, borders never change
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | root | root |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Nothing | punct |
| 3 | borders | border | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 change | nsubj |
| 4 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 5 change | advmod |
| 5 | change | change | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 Nothing | acl:relcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not change | present | borders | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 4
Borders only change when rivers move their beds in floods
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borders | border | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 change | nsubj |
| 2 | only | only | ADV | _ | 3 change | advmod |
| 3 | change | change | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 6 move | advmod |
| 5 | rivers | river | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 move | nsubj |
| 6 | move | move | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 change | advcl |
| 7 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 beds | nmod:poss |
| 8 | beds | bed | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 move | obj |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 floods | case |
| 10 | floods | flood | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 move | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | change | present | Borders | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | move | present | rivers | rivers's beds | floods | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent bed=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/31-borders-why-they-are-where-they-are/t6/