---
title: Why is grit or salt put on icy steps? — Home myths, first aid and weather warn… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is grit or salt put on icy steps? Test 7 · ★★ of lesson 120 «Home myths, first aid and weather warnings» 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 7 · ★★ · Home myths, first aid and weather warnings

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is grit or salt put on icy steps?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** grit · **What happens:** be, put · **To what, where:** grit

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This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 120 «Home myths, first aid and weather warnings» 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/120-home-myths-first-aid-and-warnings/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:120-home-myths-first-aid-and-warnings:t7:1
# text = Why is grit or salt put on icy steps?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	grit	grit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
6	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	icy	icy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | grit or salt |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **put** | participle |  | grit or salt *not said here* |  |  |  | on icy steps | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on step=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
It keeps snow from falling

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:120-home-myths-first-aid-and-warnings:t7:o1:1
# text = It keeps snow from falling
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | It | snow |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snow=Theme |
| 2 | **fall** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It stops people slipping

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:120-home-myths-first-aid-and-warnings:t7:o2:1
# text = It stops people slipping
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	slipping	slip	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | It | people |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **slip** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the steps look clean

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:120-home-myths-first-aid-and-warnings:t7:o3:1
# text = It makes the steps look clean
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	clean	clean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **look** | present | the steps |  |  |  |  | clean *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the ice even thicker

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:120-home-myths-first-aid-and-warnings:t7:o4:1
# text = It makes the ice even thicker
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	even	even	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	thicker	thick	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the ice |  |  |  | thick *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material ice=Product |

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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: [Home myths, first aid and weather warn…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/120-home-myths-first-aid-and-warnings/t6/)
- next →: [Home myths, first aid and weather warn…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/120-home-myths-first-aid-and-warnings/t8/)
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