---
title: Identify the principal reason for which a straw placed in water appe… — Illusions that fool the eye and advert… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which a straw placed in water appears bent. Exam question 1 of lesson 280 «Illusions that fool the eye and adverts that fool the wallet» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova
---

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# Exam question 1 · Illusions that fool the eye and adverts that fool the wallet

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which a straw placed in water appears bent.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, straw · **What happens:** identify, place, appear, bend · **To what, where:** principal reason, straw, water

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 280 «Illusions that fool the eye and adverts that fool the wallet» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/280-illusions-and-adverts/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which a straw placed in water appears bent.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
9	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
12	appears	appear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl	_	_
13	bent	bend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **place** | participle |  | a straw *not said here* |  | water |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in water=Destination |
| 3 | **appear** | present | a straw |  |  |  |  | for the principal reason | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **bend** | participle | a straw *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: 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 -->
The water softens the straw and bends it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:e1:o1:1
# text = The water softens the straw and bends it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	softens	soften	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	bends	bend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **soften** | present | the water | the straw |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent straw=Patient |
| 2 | **bend** | present | the water *not said here* | straw |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent it=Material |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Light changes direction passing from water to air, called refraction

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:e1:o2:1
# text = Light changes direction passing from water to air, called refraction
1	Light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	changes	change	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
11	refraction	refraction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present | Light | direction |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent direction=Patient |
| 2 | **pass** | gerund | direction *not said here* |  |  | water |  | to air | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from water=Initial\_Location to air=Destination |
| 3 | **call** | participle |  | refraction |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The glass of the vessel magnifies only one portion of the straw

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:e1:o3:1
# text = The glass of the vessel magnifies only one portion of the straw
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	magnifies	magnify	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **magnify** | present | the glass of the vessel | one portion of the straw |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent portion=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The eye cannot focus through water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:e1:o4:1
# text = The eye cannot focus through water
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	focus	focus	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **focus** | can | the eye |  |  | water |  |  | vn focus-87.1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |

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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: [Illusions that fool the eye and advert…, test 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/t19/)
- next →: [Illusions that fool the eye and advert…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/e2/)
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