---
title: A toddler in Auckland hammers a piano with toy blocks. Why should yo… — Music practice and ball games · tree and pragmatics
description: A toddler in Auckland hammers a piano with toy blocks. Why should you stop him gently? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 246 «Music practice and ball games» 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 9 · ★ · Music practice and ball games

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A toddler in Auckland hammers a piano with toy blocks. Why should you stop him gently?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** toddler, you · **What happens:** hammer, stop · **To what, where:** piano, toddler

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 246 «Music practice and ball games» 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/246-music-practice-and-ball-safety/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A toddler in Auckland hammers a piano with toy blocks.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:246-music-practice-and-ball-safety:t9:1
# text = A toddler in Auckland hammers a piano with toy blocks.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	toddler	toddler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Auckland	Auckland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	hammers	hammer	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	piano	piano	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	toy	toy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	blocks	block	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hammer** | present | a toddler in Auckland | a piano |  |  |  | with toy blocks | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent piano=Patient with block=Instrument |

<!-- .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:* Why should you stop him gently?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:246-music-practice-and-ball-safety:t9:2
# text = Why should you stop him gently?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | should | you | toddler |  |  |  | gently *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector he=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The blocks will become stuck forever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:246-music-practice-and-ball-safety:t9:o1:1
# text = The blocks will become stuck forever
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	blocks	block	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	stuck	stuck	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
6	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | future | the blocks |  |  |  |  | stuck *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The piano will start to play all by itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:246-music-practice-and-ball-safety:t9:o2:1
# text = The piano will start to play all by itself
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	piano	piano	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	all	all	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | future | the piano |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **play** | to-infinitive | the piano *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by piano; all *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The keys and hammers inside can be damaged

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:246-music-practice-and-ball-safety:t9:o3:1
# text = The keys and hammers inside can be damaged
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	keys	key	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	hammers	hammer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	damaged	damage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **damage** | can · passive |  | the keys and hammers |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The neighbours will call the police about the noise

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:246-music-practice-and-ball-safety:t9:o4:1
# text = The neighbours will call the police about the noise
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	police	police	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | future | the neighbours | the police |  |  |  | about the noise | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent police=Recipient |

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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: [Music practice and ball games, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/246-music-practice-and-ball-safety/t8/)
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