---
title: Why do dentists fix small holes early? — The dentist and washing your hands · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do dentists fix small holes early? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 75 «The dentist and washing your hands» 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 right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands/t3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/) / [The dentist and washing your hands](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands/) / t3

# Test 3 · ★ · The dentist and washing your hands

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do dentists fix small holes early?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** dentists · **What happens:** fix · **To what, where:** small holes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 75 «The dentist and washing your hands» 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/75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands:t3:1
# text = Why do dentists fix small holes early?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	dentists	dentist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	fix	fix	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fix** | present · do-support | dentists | small holes |  |  |  | early *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent hole=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fillings only work on big holes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands:t3:o1:1
# text = Fillings only work on big holes
1	Fillings	filling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	work	work	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | present | Fillings |  |  |  |  | on big holes | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on hole=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dentists like to be busy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands:t3:o2:1
# text = Dentists like to be busy
1	Dentists	dentist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | present | Dentists |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **is** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Dentists *not said here* |  |  |  |  | busy *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Small holes heal by themselves if they are left

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands:t3:o3:1
# text = Small holes heal by themselves if they are left
1	Small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	heal	heal	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obl	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **heal** | present | Small holes |  |  |  |  | by holes *= hole* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **leave** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · passive |  | holes *= hole* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A small hole grows bigger and more painful if left

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands:t3:o4:1
# text = A small hole grows bigger and more painful if left
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
8	painful	painful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | a small hole |  |  |  |  | big *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **leave** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | a small hole *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [The dentist and washing your hands, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands/t2/)
- next →: [The dentist and washing your hands, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands/t4/)
- ↑ back to [The dentist and washing your hands](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/75-the-dentist-and-washing-hands/)