---
title: Why can a bird sit on a wire, but a squirrel touching the wire and t… — Electricity and safety · tree and pragmatics
description: Why can a bird sit on a wire, but a squirrel touching the wire and the pole at the same time gets a shock? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 28 «Electricity and safety» 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 wr
---

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# Test 5 · ★ · Electricity and safety

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why can a bird sit on a wire, but a squirrel touching the wire and the pole at the same time gets a shock?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** bird, squirrel · **What happens:** sit, touch, get · **To what, where:** wire, shock

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 28 «Electricity and safety» 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/28-electricity-and-safety/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:28-electricity-and-safety:t5:1
# text = Why can a bird sit on a wire, but a squirrel touching the wire and the pole at the same time gets a shock?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	wire	wire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	squirrel	squirrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
13	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wire	wire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	pole	pole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
23	gets	get	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	shock	shock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | can | a bird |  |  | a wire |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on wire=Location |
| 2 | **touch** | gerund | a squirrel *not said here* | the wire and the pole |  |  | time |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme wire=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **get** | present | a squirrel | a shock |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shock=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
The squirrel makes a path to somewhere with a different push

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:28-electricity-and-safety:t5:o1:1
# text = The squirrel makes a path to somewhere with a different push
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	squirrel	squirrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	somewhere	somewhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	3	obl	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	push	push	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | the squirrel | a path |  |  |  | with a different push | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent path=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pole sucks electricity out of the wire

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:28-electricity-and-safety:t5:o2:1
# text = The pole sucks electricity out of the wire
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pole	pole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sucks	suck	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	electricity	electricity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	out	out	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	wire	wire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suck** | present | the pole | electricity |  | the wire |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent electricity=Theme out wire=Source |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds have rubber feet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:28-electricity-and-safety:t5:o3:1
# text = Birds have rubber feet
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	rubber	rubber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Birds | rubber feet |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent foot=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Squirrels are made of metal inside

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:28-electricity-and-safety:t5:o4:1
# text = Squirrels are made of metal inside
1	Squirrels	squirrel	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	_	5	case	_	_
5	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | Squirrels |  |  |  | of metal; inside *property* | 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: [Electricity and safety, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/28-electricity-and-safety/t4/)
- next →: [Electricity and safety, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/28-electricity-and-safety/t6/)
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