---
title: The Weekly Wonder says eggs stand up only on 20 March. What's the sm… — Water, deserts and the shape of the land · tree and pragmatics
description: The Weekly Wonder says eggs stand up only on 20 March. What's the smartest move? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 16 «Water, deserts and the shape of the land» of the myths 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 11 · ★ · Water, deserts and the shape of the land

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Weekly Wonder says eggs stand up only on 20 March. What's the smartest move?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Weekly Wonder, eggs, smartest move · **What happens:** say, stand up, be · **To what, where:** 20 · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 16 «Water, deserts and the shape of the land» of the myths 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/myths/16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* The Weekly Wonder says eggs stand up only on 20 March.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land:t11:1
# text = The Weekly Wonder says eggs stand up only on 20 March.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	Weekly	weekly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	Wonder	Wonder	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	20	20	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	obl	_	_
11	March	March	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the Weekly Wonder |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **stand up** | infinitive | eggs |  |  | 20  March |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on 20=Location |

<!-- .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 the smartest move?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land:t11:2
# text = What's the smartest move?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	smartest	smart	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	move	move	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wait till March before believing anything

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land:t11:o1:1
# text = Wait till March before believing anything
1	Wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
2	till	till	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	March	March	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
4	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	believing	believe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
6	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  | march |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **believe** | gerund | you *not said here* | anything |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer anything=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ask a friend who heard it too

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land:t11:o2:1
# text = Ask a friend who heard it too
1	Ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | imperative | you *not said here* |  | a friend |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent friend=Recipient |
| 2 | **hear** | past | a friend | friend |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Try to balance one today and see

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land:t11:o3:1
# text = Try to balance one today and see
1	Try	try	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	balance	balance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	obj	_	_
5	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **balance** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | one |  |  | today |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location one=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Trust it, newspapers are always right

```conllu
# sent_id = question:myths:16-water-deserts-and-the-shape-of-the-land:t11:o4:1
# text = Trust it, newspapers are always right
1	Trust	trust	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	newspapers	newspaper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	7	advmod	_	_
7	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trust** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | newspapers |  |  |  |  | always, right *property* | 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.

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