---
title: apparently at a party they let off 100 balloons and a cow ate one an… — Litter and caring for nature · tree and pragmatics
description: apparently at a party they let off 100 balloons and a cow ate one and died. what's the true lesson? Test 17 · ★ of lesson 239 «Litter and caring for nature» 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 
---

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# Test 17 · ★ · Litter and caring for nature

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
apparently at a party they let off 100 balloons and a cow ate one and died. what's the true lesson?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** they, cow · **What happens:** let off, eat, die, be · **To what, where:** 100 balloons, party, one, true lesson

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 17 · ★ of lesson 239 «Litter and caring for nature» 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/239-litter-and-caring-for-nature/#t17).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:239-litter-and-caring-for-nature:t17:1
# text = apparently at a party they let off 100 balloons and a cow ate one and died. what's the true lesson?
1	apparently	apparently	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	off	off	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	100	100	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	balloons	balloon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	lesson	lesson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let off** | past | they | 100 balloons |  | a party |  | apparently *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent balloon=Theme at party=Asset |
| 2 | **eat** | past | a cow | one |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Patient |
| 3 | **die** | past | a cow *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **is a** | present |  | the true lesson |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cows never eat balloons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:239-litter-and-caring-for-nature:t17:o1:1
# text = Cows never eat balloons
1	Cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	balloons	balloon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **eat** | present | Cows | balloons |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent balloon=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Never release balloons; they come down as litter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:239-litter-and-caring-for-nature:t17:o2:1
# text = Never release balloons; they come down as litter
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	release	release	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	balloons	balloon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
7	down	down	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	litter	litter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **release** | imperative | you *not said here* | balloons |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer balloon=Source |
| 2 | **come down** | present | balloons *= balloon* |  |  |  |  | as litter; down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Use red balloons, because animals always avoid red

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:239-litter-and-caring-for-nature:t17:o3:1
# text = Use red balloons, because animals always avoid red
1	Use	use	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	balloons	balloon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
8	avoid	avoid	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
9	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | imperative | you *not said here* | red balloons |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent balloon=Patient |
| 2 | **avoid** | present | animals |  |  |  |  | always, red *property* | vn avoid-52 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only release a few balloons at a time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:239-litter-and-caring-for-nature:t17:o4:1
# text = Only release a few balloons at a time
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	release	release	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	balloons	balloon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **release** | imperative | you *not said here* | a few balloons |  |  | time |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer balloon=Source |

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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: [Litter and caring for nature, test 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/239-litter-and-caring-for-nature/t16/)
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