---
title: An old book says heavy things always fall faster. What would a scien… — The age of science · tree and pragmatics
description: An old book says heavy things always fall faster. What would a scientist of this age do? Test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 29 «The age of science» of the history 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 3 · ★★★ · The age of science

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An old book says heavy things always fall faster. What would a scientist of this age do?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** old book, heavy things, scientist · **What happens:** say, fall, do · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 29 «The age of science» of the history 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/history/29-the-age-of-science/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* An old book says heavy things always fall faster.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:t3:1
# text = An old book says heavy things always fall faster.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
8	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	faster	fast	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a old book |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **fall** | present | heavy things |  |  |  |  | always, fast *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 would a scientist of this age do?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:t3:2
# text = What would a scientist of this age do?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	obj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	scientist	scientist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | would | a scientist of this age |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Drop things and measure what really happens

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:t3:o1:1
# text = Drop things and measure what really happens
1	Drop	drop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	measure	measure	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
6	really	really	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | imperative | you *not said here* | things |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme |
| 2 | **measure** | present | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **happen** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Believe the old book just because it is so very old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:t3:o2:1
# text = Believe the old book just because it is so very old
1	Believe	believe	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
6	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | imperative | you *not said here* | the old book |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer book=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | present | book |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ask the king to decide

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:t3:o3:1
# text = Ask the king to decide
1	Ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	decide	decide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | imperative | you *not said here* |  | the king |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent king=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **decide** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Burn the book and guess

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:29-the-age-of-science:t3:o4:1
# text = Burn the book and guess
1	Burn	burn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	guess	guess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | imperative | you *not said here* | the book and guess |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent book=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.

<!-- /div -->

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