---
title: Why is a helium balloon like a piece of wood in a pond? — Floating in the real world: ice, subma… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is a helium balloon like a piece of wood in a pond? Test 7 · ★ 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 and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Floating in the real world: ice, submarines and balloons

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is a helium balloon like a piece of wood in a pond?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** helium balloon · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 12 «Floating in the real world: ice, submarines and balloons» 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/12-ice-submarines-and-balloons/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:t7:1
# text = Why is a helium balloon like a piece of wood in a pond?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	helium	helium	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	balloon	balloon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a helium balloon like a piece of wood in a pond |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both are lighter than what surrounds them, so they rise

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:t7:o1:1
# text = Both are lighter than what surrounds them, so they rise
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
6	surrounds	surround	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	rise	rise	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Both |  |  |  |  | light *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **surround** | present |  | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **rise** | present | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both sink slowly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:t7:o2:1
# text = Both sink slowly
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sink	sink	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** | present | Both |  |  |  |  | slowly *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both are heavier than air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:t7:o3:1
# text = Both are heavier than air
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Both are made of plant stuff

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:12-ice-submarines-and-balloons:t7:o4:1
# text = Both are made of plant stuff
1	Both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	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	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	stuff	stuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | Both |  |  |  | of plant stuff | 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.

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