---
title: A cartoon says plastic in the sea just melts away in the salty water… — Plastics: useful and stubborn · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon says plastic in the sea just melts away in the salty water. What's true? Test 4 of lesson 29 «Plastics: useful and stubborn» 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 4 · Plastics: useful and stubborn

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon says plastic in the sea just melts away in the salty water. What's true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cartoon · **What happens:** say, melt away, be · **To what, where:** plastic, sea · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 4 of lesson 29 «Plastics: useful and stubborn» 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/29-plastics-useful-stubborn/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon says plastic in the sea just melts away in the salty water.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:29-plastics-useful-stubborn:t4:1
# text = A cartoon says plastic in the sea just melts away in the salty water.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	plastic	plastic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
8	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	melts	melt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
10	away	away	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	salty	salty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a cartoon | plastic |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent plastic=Topic |
| 2 | **melt away** | present |  |  |  | the sea |  | in the salty water; away *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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:* What's true?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:29-plastics-useful-stubborn:t4:2
# text = What's true?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Salt turns plastic into sand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:29-plastics-useful-stubborn:t4:o1:1
# text = Salt turns plastic into sand
1	Salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	turns	turn	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	plastic	plastic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | present | Salt | plastic |  | sand |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent plastic=Theme into sand=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fish eat it all up safely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:29-plastics-useful-stubborn:t4:o2:1
# text = Fish eat it all up safely
1	Fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
6	safely	safely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat up** | present | Fish | it |  |  |  | safely *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It breaks into tiny bits that last for years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:29-plastics-useful-stubborn:t4:o3:1
# text = It breaks into tiny bits that last for years
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	breaks	break	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	bits	bit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	last	last	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | present | It |  |  |  |  | into tiny bits *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Patient into bit=Result |
| 2 | **last** | present | tiny bits |  |  |  | year |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It melts away within a few days in warm sea water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:29-plastics-useful-stubborn:t4:o4:1
# text = It melts away within a few days in warm sea water
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	melts	melt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	within	within	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **melt away** | present | It |  |  | warm sea water | day | away *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: 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.

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- ← previous: [Plastics: useful and stubborn, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/29-plastics-useful-stubborn/t3/)
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