---
title: Why do engineers change only one thing at a time when testing? — Building and making things safely · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do engineers change only one thing at a time when testing? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 244 «Building and making things safely» 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 5 · ★★ · Building and making things safely

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do engineers change only one thing at a time when testing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** engineers · **What happens:** change, test · **To what, where:** one thing

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This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 244 «Building and making things safely» 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/244-building-and-making-things/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:244-building-and-making-things:t5:1
# text = Why do engineers change only one thing at a time when testing?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	engineers	engineer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
12	testing	test	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present · do-support | engineers | one thing |  |  | time |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Patient |
| 2 | **test** | gerund | engineers *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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because one change always fixes it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:244-building-and-making-things:t5:o1:1
# text = Because one change always fixes it
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	fixes	fix	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fix** | present | one change | it |  |  |  | always *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the test takes longer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:244-building-and-making-things:t5:o2:1
# text = So the test takes longer
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	takes	take	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | present | the test |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because changing more than one thing is against the rules

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:244-building-and-making-things:t5:o3:1
# text = Because changing more than one thing is against the rules
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	changing	change	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
3	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	5	advmod	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	3	fixed	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	against	against	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | gerund |  | one thing |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | against the rules | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So they can tell which change made the difference

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:244-building-and-making-things:t5:o4:1
# text = So they can tell which change made the difference
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	6	det	_	_
6	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	difference	difference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | can | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **make** | past | which change | the difference |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset difference=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: [Building and making things safely, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/244-building-and-making-things/t4/)
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