---
title: "mud in this jar's taking ages to sink, can I speed it up" Which of… — Separating mixtures · tree and pragmatics
description: "mud in this jar's taking ages to sink, can I speed it up" Which of these would actually help? Test 6 of lesson 8 «Separating mixtures» 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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# Test 6 · Separating mixtures

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"mud in this jar's taking ages to sink, can I speed it up" Which of these would actually help?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mud, I · **What happens:** take, sink, speed up, help · **To what, where:** ages, mud · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 8 «Separating mixtures» 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/8-separating-mixtures/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:8-separating-mixtures:t6:1
# text = "mud in this jar's taking ages to sink, can I speed it up" Which of these would actually help?
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	jar	jar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	csubj	_	_
8	ages	age	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	sink	sink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
12	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	speed	speed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	_
18	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	18	nmod	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** *in a quote* | present · progressive | mud in this jar | ages |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent age=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **sink** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | mud in this jar *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **speed up** *in a quote* | can | I | mud |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **help** | would |  |  |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: 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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stirring it every minute

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:8-separating-mixtures:t6:o1:1
# text = Stirring it every minute
1	Stirring	stir	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stir** | gerund |  | it |  |  | minute |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Shaking the jar very hard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:8-separating-mixtures:t6:o2:1
# text = Shaking the jar very hard
1	Shaking	shake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	jar	jar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shake** | gerund |  | the jar |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent jar=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Adding more mud

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:8-separating-mixtures:t6:o3:1
# text = Adding more mud
1	Adding	add	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | gerund |  | more mud |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mud=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Spinning it fast, as hospitals spin blood

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:8-separating-mixtures:t6:o4:1
# text = Spinning it fast, as hospitals spin blood
1	Spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	csubj	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	hospitals	hospital	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	spin	spin	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spin** | gerund |  | it |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **spin** | present | hospitals | blood |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent blood=Theme |

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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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