---
title: Tom slips on the top step of a long staircase. What helps him most? — Going up and down stairs safely · tree and pragmatics
description: Tom slips on the top step of a long staircase. What helps him most? Test 3 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 3 · Going up and down stairs safely

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tom slips on the top step of a long staircase. What helps him most?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Tom · **What happens:** slip, step, help · **To what, where:** long staircase, Tom

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 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/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Tom slips on the top step of a long staircase.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t3:1
# text = Tom slips on the top step of a long staircase.
1	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	slips	slip	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	top	top	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	staircase	staircase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slip** | present | Tom |  |  |  |  | on the top step of a long staircase | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **step** |  |  | a long staircase |  |  |  |  | nom step «act transitive»: of=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 helps him most?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t3:2
# text = What helps him most?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	helps	help	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | present |  |  | Tom |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Being in a big hurry to get down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t3:o1:1
# text = Being in a big hurry to get down
1	Being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	cop	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	hurry	hurry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	down	down	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  | a big hurry |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **get down** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Having his hands in his pockets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t3:o2:1
# text = Having his hands in his pockets
1	Having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	pockets	pocket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | gerund |  | his hands |  | his pockets |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His hand already on the rail

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t3:o3:1
# text = His hand already on the rail
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	already	already	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	rail	rail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His heavy backpack pulling him back

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:1-stairs:t3:o4:1
# text = His heavy backpack pulling him back
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	backpack	backpack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull back** | gerund | His heavy backpack | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP ADJP-Result»: agent=Agent he=Result |

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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: [Going up and down stairs safely, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/1-stairs/t2/)
- next →: [Going up and down stairs safely, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/1-stairs/t4/)
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