---
title: Why does a fisherman wet his hands before holding a fish? — Living with friction: oil, wheels and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does a fisherman wet his hands before holding a fish? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 7 «Living with friction: oil, wheels and grip» 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 · ★ · Living with friction: oil, wheels and grip

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does a fisherman wet his hands before holding a fish?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** fisherman · **What happens:** wet, hold · **To what, where:** hands, fish

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 7 «Living with friction: oil, wheels and grip» 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/7-living-with-friction/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:7-living-with-friction:t7:1
# text = Why does a fisherman wet his hands before holding a fish?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fisherman	fisherman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	wet	wet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wet** | present · do-support | a fisherman | fisherman's hands |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 2 | **hold** | gerund | a fisherman *not said here* | a fish |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=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 -->
So the fish stays heavier

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:7-living-with-friction:t7:o1:1
# text = So the fish stays heavier
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stays	stay	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | present | the fish |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the fish is easier to grip

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:7-living-with-friction:t7:o2:1
# text = So the fish is easier to grip
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	easier	easy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	grip	grip	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the fish |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grip** | to-infinitive | the fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So he does not rub off the slime that protects it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:7-living-with-friction:t7:o3:1
# text = So he does not rub off the slime that protects it
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	rub	rub	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	slime	slime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	protects	protect	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **rub off** | present · do-support | he | the slime |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent slime=Theme |
| 2 | **protect** | present | the slime | slime |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because dry hands are too cold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:7-living-with-friction:t7:o4:1
# text = Because dry hands are too cold
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | dry hands |  |  |  |  | cold *property* | tree rules |

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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: [Living with friction: oil, wheels and…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/7-living-with-friction/t6/)
- next →: [Living with friction: oil, wheels and…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/7-living-with-friction/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Living with friction: oil, wheels and grip](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/7-living-with-friction/)