---
title: If a carbon monoxide alarm goes off, why can you not just sniff the… — Sounds that warn · tree and pragmatics
description: If a carbon monoxide alarm goes off, why can you not just sniff the air to check? Test 7 of lesson 12 «Sounds that warn» 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 7 · Sounds that warn

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If a carbon monoxide alarm goes off, why can you not just sniff the air to check?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** monoxide alarm, you · **What happens:** go off, not sniff, check · **To what, where:** air

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 12 «Sounds that warn» 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/12-sounds-that-warn/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:12-sounds-that-warn:t7:1
# text = If a carbon monoxide alarm goes off, why can you not just sniff the air to check?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	carbon	carbon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	monoxide	monoxide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	alarm	alarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
7	off	off	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
9	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
13	just	just	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	sniff	sniff	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	check	check	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go off** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | a monoxide alarm |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **sniff** | can | you | the air |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent air=Theme |
| 3 | **check** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | the air *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The gas has no smell at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:12-sounds-that-warn:t7:o1:1
# text = The gas has no smell at all
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | the gas | no smell |  | all |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent smell=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your nose stops working near alarms

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:12-sounds-that-warn:t7:o2:1
# text = Your nose stops working near alarms
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	working	work	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	near	near	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	alarms	alarm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | Your nose |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **work** | gerund | Your nose *not said here* |  |  | alarms |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The gas only smells in the morning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:12-sounds-that-warn:t7:o3:1
# text = The gas only smells in the morning
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	smells	smell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smell** | present | the gas |  |  |  | morning |  | vn smell\_emission-43.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The gas smells just like flowers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:12-sounds-that-warn:t7:o4:1
# text = The gas smells just like flowers
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	smells	smell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smell** | present | the gas |  |  |  |  | like flowers | vn smell\_emission-43.3 «NP V»: agent=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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- ← previous: [Sounds that warn, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/12-sounds-that-warn/t6/)
- next →: [Sounds that warn, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/12-sounds-that-warn/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Sounds that warn](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/12-sounds-that-warn/)