---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — Floating in the real world: ice, subma… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the reason for which ice floats upon water? Exam question 1 of lesson 12 «Floating in the real world: ice, submarines and balloons» of the physics course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/12-ice-submarines-and-balloons/e1/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Physics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/) / [Floating in the real world: ice, subma…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/12-ice-submarines-and-balloons/) / e1

# Exam question 1 · Floating in the real world: ice, submarines and balloons

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the reason for which ice floats upon water?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ice · **What happens:** follow, characteris, float · **To what, where:** reason, water

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 12 «Floating in the real world: ice, submarines and balloons» of the physics course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/12-ice-submarines-and-balloons/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the reason for which ice floats upon water?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
13	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	floats	float	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl	_	_
15	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the reason |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **float** | present | ice |  |  | water |  | for the reason | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon water=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 -->
Water expands upon freezing, so that ice is of lesser density

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:e1:o1:1
# text = Water expands upon freezing, so that ice is of lesser density
1	Water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	expands	expand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	freezing	freezing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
6	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	12	mark	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	lesser	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	amod	_	_
12	density	density	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expand** | present | Water |  |  |  |  | upon freezing | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | present | ice |  |  |  |  | of lesser density | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cold bodies are invariably repelled by water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:e1:o2:1
# text = Cold bodies are invariably repelled by water
1	Cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	repelled	repel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **repel** | present · passive | water | Cold bodies |  |  |  | invariably *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ice contains a large quantity of trapped helium

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:e1:o3:1
# text = Ice contains a large quantity of trapped helium
1	Ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	contains	contain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	quantity	quantity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	trapped	trap	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	helium	helium	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contain** | present | Ice | a large quantity of trapped helium |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot quantity=Theme |
| 2 | **trap** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ice is supported by the walls of its container

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:e1:o4:1
# text = Ice is supported by the walls of its container
1	Ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	supported	support	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	container	container	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **support** | present · passive | the walls of Ice's container | Ice |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Floating in the real world: ice, subma…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/12-ice-submarines-and-balloons/t11/)
- next →: [Floating in the real world: ice, subma…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/12-ice-submarines-and-balloons/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Floating in the real world: ice, submarines and balloons](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/12-ice-submarines-and-balloons/)