---
title: Why do skiers and skaters learn how to fall before anything else? — Balance and falling well · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do skiers and skaters learn how to fall before anything else? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 2 «Balance and falling well» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/2-balance-and-falling-well/t5/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/) / [Balance and falling well](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/2-balance-and-falling-well/) / t5

# Test 5 · ★ · Balance and falling well

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do skiers and skaters learn how to fall before anything else?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** skiers · **What happens:** learn, fall · **To what, where:** anything

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 2 «Balance and falling well» 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/2-balance-and-falling-well/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t5:1
# text = Why do skiers and skaters learn how to fall before anything else?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	skiers	skier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	skaters	skater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
6	learn	learn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
7	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	fall	fall	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	before	before	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	obl	_	_
12	else	else	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | present · do-support | skiers and skaters |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **fall** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | anything |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before anything=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
Falling makes the snow softer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t5:o1:1
# text = Falling makes the snow softer
1	Falling	fall	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	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	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	softer	soft	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | present |  | the snow |  |  |  | soft *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset snow=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Falling is the fastest way down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t5:o2:1
# text = Falling is the fastest way down
1	Falling	fall	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	fastest	fast	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	down	down	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | the fastest way |  |  |  | down *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a rule with no reason

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t5:o3:1
# text = It is a rule with no reason
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
7	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a rule |  |  |  | with no reason | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Falling well prevents injuries when they fall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:2-balance-and-falling-well:t5:o4:1
# text = Falling well prevents injuries when they fall
1	Falling	fall	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	csubj	_	_
2	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	1	advmod	_	_
3	prevents	prevent	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	injuries	injury	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	7	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **prevent** | present | Falling | injuries |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer injury=Theme |
| 3 | **fall** | present | injuries *= injury* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Balance and falling well, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/2-balance-and-falling-well/t4/)
- next →: [Balance and falling well, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/2-balance-and-falling-well/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Balance and falling well](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/2-balance-and-falling-well/)