---
title: If you put a drop of soap behind a paper boat on a still pond, what… — Soap and why washing works · tree and pragmatics
description: If you put a drop of soap behind a paper boat on a still pond, what would happen? Test 6 · ★★ of lesson 24 «Soap and why washing works» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/24-soap-and-why-washing-works/t6/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/) / [Soap and why washing works](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/24-soap-and-why-washing-works/) / t6

# Test 6 · ★★ · Soap and why washing works

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If you put a drop of soap behind a paper boat on a still pond, what would happen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** put, happen · **To what, where:** drop, paper boat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★★ of lesson 24 «Soap and why washing works» 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/24-soap-and-why-washing-works/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:24-soap-and-why-washing-works:t6:1
# text = If you put a drop of soap behind a paper boat on a still pond, what would happen?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	put	put	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	drop	drop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	soap	soap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	still	still	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
17	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	19	nsubj	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | a drop of soap |  | a paper boat |  | on a pond | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent drop=Theme on pond=Destination |
| 2 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The boat would shoot forward

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:24-soap-and-why-washing-works:t6:o1:1
# text = The boat would shoot forward
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	shoot	shoot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shoot** | would | the boat |  |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The boat would spin in circles

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:24-soap-and-why-washing-works:t6:o2:1
# text = The boat would spin in circles
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	spin	spin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	circles	circle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spin** | would | the boat |  |  | circles |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme in circle=Trajectory |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The boat would sink at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:24-soap-and-why-washing-works:t6:o3:1
# text = The boat would sink at once
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	sink	sink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** | would | the boat |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing would happen at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:24-soap-and-why-washing-works:t6:o4:1
# text = Nothing would happen at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would | Nothing |  |  | all |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at all=Location |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Soap and why washing works, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/24-soap-and-why-washing-works/t5/)
- next →: [Soap and why washing works, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/24-soap-and-why-washing-works/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Soap and why washing works](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/24-soap-and-why-washing-works/)