---
title: A boy's friend throws a hard, icy snowball at a passing car. What co… — Snow, ice and strong sun · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy's friend throws a hard, icy snowball at a passing car. What could happen? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 234 «Snow, ice and strong sun» 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 3 · ★★ · Snow, ice and strong sun

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy's friend throws a hard, icy snowball at a passing car. What could happen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** friend · **What happens:** throw, pass, happen · **To what, where:** hard icy snowball, passing car

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 234 «Snow, ice and strong sun» 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/234-snow-ice-and-sun/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy's friend throws a hard, icy snowball at a passing car.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:234-snow-ice-and-sun:t3:1
# text = A boy's friend throws a hard, icy snowball at a passing car.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	throws	throw	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	icy	icy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	snowball	snowball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	amod	_	_
14	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | present | a boy's friend | a hard icy snowball |  | a passing car |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent snowball=Theme at car=Destination |
| 2 | **pass** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 could happen?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:234-snow-ice-and-sun:t3:2
# text = What could happen?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | could |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The driver could be startled and crash

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:234-snow-ice-and-sun:t3:o1:1
# text = The driver could be startled and crash
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	driver	driver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	startled	startle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	crash	crash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **startle** | could · passive |  | the driver |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, because cars are made of metal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:234-snow-ice-and-sun:t3:o2:1
# text = Nothing, because cars are made of metal
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	cars	car	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	appos	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | cars |  |  |  | of metal | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The car will just get a little bit cleaner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:234-snow-ice-and-sun:t3:o3:1
# text = The car will just get a little bit cleaner
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	cleaner	cleaner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | future | the car | a little bit cleaner |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cleaner=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The snowball will melt long before it hits the car

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:234-snow-ice-and-sun:t3:o4:1
# text = The snowball will melt long before it hits the car
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	snowball	snowball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	melt	melt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
6	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	hits	hit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **melt** | future | the snowball |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **hit** | present | snowball | the car |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme car=Co-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: [Snow, ice and strong sun, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/234-snow-ice-and-sun/t2/)
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