---
title: Why is polystyrene in the sea a problem? — Water safety and the ocean · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is polystyrene in the sea a problem? Test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 13 «Water safety and the ocean» 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 9 · ★★★ · Water safety and the ocean

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is polystyrene in the sea a problem?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** polystyrene · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 13 «Water safety and the ocean» 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/13-water-safety-and-the-ocean/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:13-water-safety-and-the-ocean:t9:1
# text = Why is polystyrene in the sea a problem?
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	polystyrene	polystyrene	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	problem	problem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | polystyrene in the sea |  |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It floats for years and pollutes the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:13-water-safety-and-the-ocean:t9:o1:1
# text = It floats for years and pollutes the sea
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	floats	float	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	pollutes	pollute	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float** | present | It |  |  |  | year |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **pollute** | present |  | the sea |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It sinks and blocks the seabed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:13-water-safety-and-the-ocean:t9:o2:1
# text = It sinks and blocks the seabed
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sinks	sink	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	blocks	block	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	seabed	seabed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **block** | present |  | the seabed |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer seabed=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the waves bigger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:13-water-safety-and-the-ocean:t9:o3:1
# text = It makes the waves bigger
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the waves |  |  |  | big *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material wave=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It melts in the sun and heats up the sea water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:13-water-safety-and-the-ocean:t9:o4:1
# text = It melts in the sun and heats up the sea water
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	melts	melt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	heats	heat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **melt** | present | It |  |  | the sun |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **heat up** | present |  | the sea water |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent water=Patient |

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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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- ← previous: [Water safety and the ocean, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/13-water-safety-and-the-ocean/t8/)
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