---
title: A family's car breaks down on a freeway in Texas. Why should the chi… — Traffic lights, crossings and road signs · tree and pragmatics
description: A family's car breaks down on a freeway in Texas. Why should the children not walk along it? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 267 «Traffic lights, crossings and road signs» 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 
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Traffic lights, crossings and road signs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A family's car breaks down on a freeway in Texas. Why should the children not walk along it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** car, children · **What happens:** break down, not walk · **To what, where:** freeway

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 267 «Traffic lights, crossings and road signs» 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/267-traffic-lights-and-signs/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A family's car breaks down on a freeway in Texas.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:t7:1
# text = A family's car breaks down on a freeway in Texas.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	car	car	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	breaks	break	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	down	down	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	freeway	freeway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Texas	Texas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break down** | present | a family's car |  |  | a freeway in Texas |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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 the children not walk along it?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:t7:2
# text = Why should the children not walk along it?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	along	along	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **walk** | should | the children |  |  | freeway |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along it=Trajectory |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The road is too hot for shoes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:t7:o1:1
# text = The road is too hot for shoes
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the road |  |  |  |  | for shoes; hot *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cars go very fast there and walking is not allowed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:t7:o2:1
# text = Cars go very fast there and walking is not allowed
1	Cars	car	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	walking	walking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | Cars |  |  | there |  | fast *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **allow** | present · passive |  | walking |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is too far to the next town

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:t7:o3:1
# text = It is too far to the next town
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	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | to the next town; far *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They might get lost among the many signs along the freeway

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:267-traffic-lights-and-signs:t7:o4:1
# text = They might get lost among the many signs along the freeway
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	get	get	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	among	among	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
9	along	along	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	freeway	freeway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | might · passive |  | They |  |  |  | among the many signs; along the freeway | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Traffic lights, crossings and road signs, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/267-traffic-lights-and-signs/t6/)
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