---
title: A girl in Toronto carries a stack of books so tall she cannot see th… — Going up and down stairs safely · tree and pragmatics
description: A girl in Toronto carries a stack of books so tall she cannot see the steps. What should she do? Test 1 of lesson 1 «Going up and down stairs safely» of the everyday 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 1 · Going up and down stairs safely

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A girl in Toronto carries a stack of books so tall she cannot see the steps. What should she do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** girl · **What happens:** carry, not see, do · **To what, where:** stack, steps

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 of lesson 1 «Going up and down stairs safely» of the everyday 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/everyday/1-stairs/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A girl in Toronto carries a stack of books so tall she cannot see the steps.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t1:1
# text = A girl in Toronto carries a stack of books so tall she cannot see the steps.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Toronto	Toronto	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	carries	carry	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stack	stack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry** | present | a girl in Toronto | a stack of books |  |  |  | tall *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stack=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **see** | can | girl | the steps |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer step=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 should she do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t1:2
# text = What should she do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | should | girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Carry fewer books so she can see

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t1:o1:1
# text = Carry fewer books so she can see
1	Carry	carry	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry** | imperative | you *not said here* | fewer books |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | can | she |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lean back and keep going

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t1:o2:1
# text = Lean back and keep going
1	Lean	lean	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	back	back	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
5	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lean back** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **keep** | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | gerund | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Walk down backwards

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t1:o3:1
# text = Walk down backwards
1	Walk	walk	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	down	down	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
3	backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk down** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | backwards *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Go down faster before she drops them all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t1:o4:1
# text = Go down faster before she drops them all
1	Go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	down	down	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	1	advmod	_	_
4	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	drops	drop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	nmod:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go down** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | down, fast *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **drop** | present | she | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Olympiad: reading between the lines ★★★, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/euphemisms/42-olympiad-reading-between-the-lines/e4/)
- next →: [Going up and down stairs safely, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/1-stairs/t2/)
- ↑ back to [Going up and down stairs safely](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/1-stairs/)