---
title: A cartoon miner scratches a diamond with his fingernail. What's wrong? — Minerals and crystals · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon miner scratches a diamond with his fingernail. What's wrong? Test 6 · ★★ of lesson 50 «Minerals and crystals» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 6 · ★★ · Minerals and crystals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon miner scratches a diamond with his fingernail. What's wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cartoon miner · **What happens:** scratch, be · **To what, where:** diamond

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This is test 6 · ★★ of lesson 50 «Minerals and crystals» 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/50-minerals-and-crystals/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon miner scratches a diamond with his fingernail.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:50-minerals-and-crystals:t6:1
# text = A cartoon miner scratches a diamond with his fingernail.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	miner	miner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	scratches	scratch	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	diamond	diamond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	fingernail	fingernail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scratch** | present | a cartoon miner | a diamond |  |  |  | with miner's fingernail | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent diamond=Patient with fingernail=Instrument |

<!-- .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's wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:50-minerals-and-crystals:t6:2
# text = What's wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Diamond can only ever be scratched by gold, not by nails

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:50-minerals-and-crystals:t6:o1:1
# text = Diamond can only ever be scratched by gold, not by nails
1	Diamond	diamond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	scratched	scratch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	nails	nail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scratch** | can · passive | nails | Diamond |  |  | ever | by gold | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent subject=Patient by gold=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fingernails are harder than any mineral

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:50-minerals-and-crystals:t6:o2:1
# text = Fingernails are harder than any mineral
1	Fingernails	fingernail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	mineral	mineral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Fingernails |  |  |  |  | than any mineral; hard *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Diamond is the hardest mineral; a fingernail can't scratch it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:50-minerals-and-crystals:t6:o3:1
# text = Diamond is the hardest mineral; a fingernail can't scratch it
1	Diamond	diamond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	hardest	hard	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	mineral	mineral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fingernail	fingernail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	scratch	scratch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Diamond | the hardest mineral |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **scratch** | can | a fingernail | Diamond |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, diamond is soft like talc

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:50-minerals-and-crystals:t6:o4:1
# text = Nothing, diamond is soft like talc
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	diamond	diamond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	like	like	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	talc	talc	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Nothing diamond | soft like talc |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Minerals and crystals, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/50-minerals-and-crystals/t5/)
- next →: [Minerals and crystals, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/50-minerals-and-crystals/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Minerals and crystals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/50-minerals-and-crystals/)