---
title: Identify the principal reason for which a gas, unlike a liquid, may… — Solids, liquids and gases · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which a gas, unlike a liquid, may be readily compressed. Exam question 2 of lesson 4 «Solids, liquids and gases» 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 wrong.
---

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# Exam question 2 · Solids, liquids and gases

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which a gas, unlike a liquid, may be readily compressed.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, compress · **To what, where:** principal reason, gas

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 4 «Solids, liquids and gases» of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:4-solids-liquids-and-gases:e2:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which a gas, unlike a liquid, may be readily compressed.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	obl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	unlike	unlike	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	liquid	liquid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
14	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux:pass	_	_
16	readily	readily	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	compressed	compress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **compress** | may · passive |  | a gas and a liquid |  |  |  | for the principal reason; readily *property* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gases are devoid of particles altogether

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:4-solids-liquids-and-gases:e2:o1:1
# text = Gases are devoid of particles altogether
1	Gases	gas	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	devoid	devoid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	particles	particle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	altogether	altogether	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The particles of a gas are considerably larger than those of a liquid

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:4-solids-liquids-and-gases:e2:o2:1
# text = The particles of a gas are considerably larger than those of a liquid
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	particles	particle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	considerably	considerably	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	8	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	liquid	liquid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the particles of a gas |  |  |  |  | than those; considerably, large *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The particles of a gas are widely separated from one another

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:4-solids-liquids-and-gases:e2:o3:1
# text = The particles of a gas are widely separated from one another
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	particles	particle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	widely	widely	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	separated	separate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	obl	_	_
11	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **separate** | present · passive |  | the particles of a gas |  |  |  | from one; widely *property* | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient from one=Co-Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The particles of a gas are held in fixed positions

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:4-solids-liquids-and-gases:e2:o4:1
# text = The particles of a gas are held in fixed positions
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	particles	particle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
10	positions	position	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present · passive |  | the particles of a gas |  | fixed positions |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in position=Location |
| 2 | **fix** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

<!-- 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 -->

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- ← previous: [Solids, liquids and gases, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/e1/)
- next →: [Solids, liquids and gases, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Solids, liquids and gases](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/)