---
title: What would happen if you built a tall tower on soft ground with a we… — Buildings and architecture · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if you built a tall tower on soft ground with a weak foundation? Test 2 of lesson 34 «Buildings and architecture» of the arts 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 2 · Buildings and architecture

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if you built a tall tower on soft ground with a weak foundation?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** happen, build · **To what, where:** tall tower, soft ground

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 of lesson 34 «Buildings and architecture» of the arts 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/arts/34-buildings-and-architecture/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:34-buildings-and-architecture:t2:1
# text = What would happen if you built a tall tower on soft ground with a weak foundation?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	foundation	foundation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **build** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | you | a tall tower |  | soft ground with a weak foundation |  |  | vn base-97.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent tower=Theme on ground=Source |

<!-- .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 -->
It would slowly grow taller over time as the ground pushed it up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:34-buildings-and-architecture:t2:o1:1
# text = It would slowly grow taller over time as the ground pushed it up
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
6	over	over	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	pushed	push	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	up	up	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | It |  |  |  | time | slowly, tall *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **push up** | past | the ground | it |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The soft ground would get harder by itself under the heavy tower

```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:34-buildings-and-architecture:t2:o2:1
# text = The soft ground would get harder by itself under the heavy tower
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	xcomp	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	5	obl	_	_
9	under	under	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | the soft ground |  |  | the heavy tower |  | by ground; hard *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing at all, because foundations do not matter for towers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:34-buildings-and-architecture:t2:o3:1
# text = Nothing at all, because foundations do not matter for towers
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	foundations	foundation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
7	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	matter	matter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	parataxis	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	towers	tower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **matter** | present · do-support | foundations |  |  |  |  | for towers | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It could sink or lean

```conllu
# sent_id = question:arts:34-buildings-and-architecture:t2:o4:1
# text = It could sink or lean
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	sink	sink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	lean	lean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** | could | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **lean** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [Buildings and architecture, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/arts/34-buildings-and-architecture/t1/)
- next →: [Buildings and architecture, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/arts/34-buildings-and-architecture/t3/)
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