---
title: On a damp day the balloon trick keeps failing. Why? — What is everything made of? · tree and pragmatics
description: On a damp day the balloon trick keeps failing. Why? Test 7 of lesson 1 «What is everything made of?» of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 7 · What is everything made of?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On a damp day the balloon trick keeps failing. Why?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** balloon trick · **What happens:** keep, fail

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 1 «What is everything made of?» of the chemistry 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/chemistry/1-what-is-everything-made-of/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* On a damp day the balloon trick keeps failing.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:1-what-is-everything-made-of:t7:1
# text = On a damp day the balloon trick keeps failing.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	damp	damp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	balloon	balloon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	trick	trick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	failing	fail	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | the balloon trick |  |  |  | day |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fail** | gerund | the balloon trick *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:1-what-is-everything-made-of:t7:2
# text = Why?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Damp air is too heavy for the balloon to float in

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:1-what-is-everything-made-of:t7:o1:1
# text = Damp air is too heavy for the balloon to float in
1	Damp	damp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	balloon	balloon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	float	float	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Damp air |  |  |  |  | for the balloon; heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **float** | to-infinitive | Damp air *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Water in the air lets the charge leak away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:1-what-is-everything-made-of:t7:o2:1
# text = Water in the air lets the charge leak away
1	Water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	lets	let	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	charge	charge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	leak	leak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
9	away	away	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | present | Water in the air | the charge |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **leak away** | infinitive | the charge *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Balloons lose their electrons in the dark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:1-what-is-everything-made-of:t7:o3:1
# text = Balloons lose their electrons in the dark
1	Balloons	balloon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	electrons	electron	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | present | Balloons | Balloons's electrons |  | the dark |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent electron=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wet walls are too slippery to stick to

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:1-what-is-everything-made-of:t7:o4:1
# text = Wet walls are too slippery to stick to
1	Wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	stick	stick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Wet walls |  |  |  |  | slippery *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stick** | to-infinitive | Wet walls *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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