---
title: Why do people put salt or grit on icy roads rather than wait for the… — Melting, freezing and boiling · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do people put salt or grit on icy roads rather than wait for the Sun? Test 7 · ★★ of lesson 24 «Melting, freezing and boiling» 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 7 · ★★ · Melting, freezing and boiling

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do people put salt or grit on icy roads rather than wait for the Sun?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** people · **What happens:** put, wait · **To what, where:** salt, icy roads

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 24 «Melting, freezing and boiling» 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/24-melting-freezing-and-boiling/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:24-melting-freezing-and-boiling:t7:1
# text = Why do people put salt or grit on icy roads rather than wait for the Sun?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	grit	grit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	icy	icy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
11	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	13	cc	_	_
12	than	than	ADP	IN	_	11	fixed	_	_
13	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | present · do-support | people | salt or grit |  | icy roads |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent salt=Theme on road=Destination |
| 2 | **wait** | infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the Sun | vn exist-47.1 «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 -->
Salt stops the road from shrinking in the cold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:24-melting-freezing-and-boiling:t7:o1:1
# text = Salt stops the road from shrinking in the cold
1	Salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stops	stop	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	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	shrinking	shrink	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	cold	cold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | Salt | the road |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality road=Eventuality |
| 2 | **shrink** | gerund | Salt *not said here* |  |  | the cold |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Sun only makes ice thicker and harder

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:24-melting-freezing-and-boiling:t7:o2:1
# text = The Sun only makes ice thicker and harder
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	thicker	thick	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | the Sun | ice |  |  |  | thick *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ice=Product |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Sun alone often melts ice slowly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:24-melting-freezing-and-boiling:t7:o3:1
# text = The Sun alone often melts ice slowly
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	often	often	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	melts	melt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **melt** | present | the Sun | ice |  |  |  | often, slowly *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient ice=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Salt makes the Sun shine harder on the road

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:24-melting-freezing-and-boiling:t7:o4:1
# text = Salt makes the Sun shine harder on the road
1	Salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	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	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	shine	shine	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	xcomp	_	_
6	harder	hard	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Salt |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **shine** | present | the Sun |  |  | the road |  | hard *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on road=Location |

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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: [Melting, freezing and boiling, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/24-melting-freezing-and-boiling/t6/)
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