---
title: Why can a swimmer drown even when people are nearby? — Swimming basics and water confidence · tree and pragmatics
description: Why can a swimmer drown even when people are nearby? Test 4 · ★★ of lesson 7 «Swimming basics and water confidence» 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 4 · ★★ · Swimming basics and water confidence

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why can a swimmer drown even when people are nearby?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** swimmer, people · **What happens:** drown, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★ of lesson 7 «Swimming basics and water confidence» 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/7-swimming-and-water/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:7-swimming-and-water:t4:1
# text = Why can a swimmer drown even when people are nearby?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	swimmer	swimmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	drown	drown	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	even	even	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	nearby	nearby	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drown** | can | a swimmer |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | people |  |  |  |  | nearby *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
People standing nearby can never do anything to help

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:7-swimming-and-water:t4:o1:1
# text = People standing nearby can never do anything to help
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
2	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
3	nearby	nearby	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | gerund | People *not said here* |  |  |  |  | nearby *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **do** | can | People | anything |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |
| 3 | **help** | to-infinitive | People *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Drowning only ever happens at night, in the dark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:7-swimming-and-water:t4:o2:1
# text = Drowning only ever happens at night, in the dark
1	Drowning	drown	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
3	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	advmod	_	_
4	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drown** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **happen** | present |  |  |  | the dark | ever; night |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in dark=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Drowning is often quiet and easy to miss

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:7-swimming-and-water:t4:o3:1
# text = Drowning is often quiet and easy to miss
1	Drowning	drowning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	often	often	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	miss	miss	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Drowning |  |  |  |  | often, quiet *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Drowning *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **miss** | to-infinitive | Drowning *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Drowning always happens far from the shore

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:7-swimming-and-water:t4:o4:1
# text = Drowning always happens far from the shore
1	Drowning	drown	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drown** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **happen** | present |  |  |  | the shore |  | always, far *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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: [Swimming basics and water confidence, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/7-swimming-and-water/t3/)
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