---
title: Why does a white icy surface make the poles even colder? — The Arctic and Antarctica · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does a white icy surface make the poles even colder? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 15 «The Arctic and Antarctica» of the geography course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · The Arctic and Antarctica

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does a white icy surface make the poles even colder?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** white icy surface · **What happens:** make · **To what, where:** poles

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 15 «The Arctic and Antarctica» of the geography 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/geography/15-the-arctic-and-antarctica/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t4:1
# text = Why does a white icy surface make the poles even colder?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	icy	icy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	poles	pole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	even	even	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	colder	cold	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · do-support | a white icy surface | the poles |  |  |  | cold *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset pole=Product |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
White ice reflects most sunlight back into space

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t4:o1:1
# text = White ice reflects most sunlight back into space
1	White	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reflects	reflect	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reflect back** | present | White ice | most sunlight |  | space |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ice soaks up all the heat of the Sun and stores it deep down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t4:o2:1
# text = Ice soaks up all the heat of the Sun and stores it deep down
1	Ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	soaks	soak	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	stores	store	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	deep	deep	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	down	down	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **soak up** | present | Ice | all heat of the Sun |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent heat=Source |
| 2 | **store** | present | Ice *not said here* | heat |  |  |  | down *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **heat** |  | the Sun |  |  |  |  |  | nom heat «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The whiteness blocks the wind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t4:o3:1
# text = The whiteness blocks the wind
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	whiteness	whiteness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	blocks	block	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	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **block** | present | the whiteness | the wind |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer wind=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
White ice makes its own cold air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:15-the-arctic-and-antarctica:t4:o4:1
# text = White ice makes its own cold air
1	White	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
5	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | White ice | ice's own cold air |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset air=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: [The Arctic and Antarctica, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/15-the-arctic-and-antarctica/t3/)
- next →: [The Arctic and Antarctica, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/15-the-arctic-and-antarctica/t5/)
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