---
title: Lily's mum says steel always sinks, so how come ships float? — Floating and sinking: the push of the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Lily's mum says steel always sinks, so how come ships float? Test 1 of lesson 11 «Floating and sinking: the push of the water» of the physics 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 1 · Floating and sinking: the push of the water

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lily's mum says steel always sinks, so how come ships float?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mum, steel, come ships · **What happens:** say, sink, float · **To what, where:** steel · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 of lesson 11 «Floating and sinking: the push of the water» of the physics 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/physics/11-floating-and-sinking/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:11-floating-and-sinking:t1:1
# text = Lily's mum says steel always sinks, so how come ships float?
1	Lily	Lily	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	7	advmod	_	_
7	sinks	sink	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
10	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
11	come	come	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
13	float	float	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Lily's mum | steel |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent steel=Topic |
| 2 | **sink** | present | steel *not said here* |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **float** | present | come ships |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ships float on their engines

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:11-floating-and-sinking:t1:o1:1
# text = Ships float on their engines
1	Ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	float	float	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	engines	engine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float** | present | Ships |  |  | Ships's engines |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on engine=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sea water holds up all metal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:11-floating-and-sinking:t1:o2:1
# text = Sea water holds up all metal
1	Sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold up** | present | Sea water | all metal |  |  |  |  | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot metal=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A ship is hollow and full of air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:11-floating-and-sinking:t1:o3:1
# text = A ship is hollow and full of air
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	hollow	hollow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a ship |  |  |  |  | hollow *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | a ship *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of air | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ships are made of light wood under the paint

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:11-floating-and-sinking:t1:o4:1
# text = Ships are made of light wood under the paint
1	Ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	under	under	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	paint	paint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | Ships |  | the paint |  | of light wood | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Swings and pendulums, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/10-swings-and-pendulums/e4/)
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