---
title: A pencil in a glass of water seems to break at the water's surface.… — Illusions that fool the eye and advert… · tree and pragmatics
description: A pencil in a glass of water seems to break at the water's surface. What is happening? Test 2 · ★ 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; 
---

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# Test 2 · ★ · Illusions that fool the eye and adverts that fool the wallet

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A pencil in a glass of water seems to break at the water's surface. What is happening?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** pencil · **What happens:** seem, break, happen · **To what, where:** surface

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 280 «Illusions that fool the eye and adverts that fool the wallet» 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/280-illusions-and-adverts/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A pencil in a glass of water seems to break at the water's surface.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:t2:1
# text = A pencil in a glass of water seems to break at the water's surface.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pencil	pencil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | present | a pencil in a glass of water |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **break** | to-infinitive | a pencil in a glass of water *not said here* |  |  | the water's surface |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at surface=Location |

<!-- .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:* What is happening?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:t2:2
# text = What is happening?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | present · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The water is pushing the two halves of the pencil apart

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:t2:o1:1
# text = The water is pushing the two halves of the pencil apart
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	pushing	push	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	halves	half	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	pencil	pencil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	apart	apart	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | present · progressive | the water | the two halves of the pencil |  |  |  | apart *property* | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent half=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The glass has a crack in it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:t2:o2:1
# text = The glass has a crack in it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	crack	crack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | the glass | a crack |  | crack |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crack=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Light bends as it passes between water and air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:t2:o3:1
# text = Light bends as it passes between water and air
1	Light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	bends	bend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	passes	pass	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
6	between	between	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bend** | present | Light |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **pass** | present | Light |  |  | water and air |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme between water=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pencil is made of two parts

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:280-illusions-and-adverts:t2:o4:1
# text = The pencil is made of two parts
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pencil	pencil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	parts	part	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | the pencil |  |  |  | of two parts | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=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: [Illusions that fool the eye and advert…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/t1/)
- next →: [Illusions that fool the eye and advert…, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Illusions that fool the eye and adverts that fool the wallet](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/)