---
title: A dad and a toddler want to balance on a seesaw. What works? — Balance: the centre of gravity · tree and pragmatics
description: A dad and a toddler want to balance on a seesaw. What works? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 8 «Balance: the centre of gravity» 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 3 · ★ · Balance: the centre of gravity

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A dad and a toddler want to balance on a seesaw. What works?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** dad · **What happens:** want, balance, work · **To what, where:** seesaw

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 8 «Balance: the centre of gravity» 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/8-balance-the-centre-of-gravity/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A dad and a toddler want to balance on a seesaw.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:8-balance-the-centre-of-gravity:t3:1
# text = A dad and a toddler want to balance on a seesaw.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	toddler	toddler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
6	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	balance	balance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	seesaw	seesaw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present | a dad and a toddler |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **balance** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a dad and a toddler *not said here* |  |  | a seesaw |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on seesaw=Location |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What works?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:8-balance-the-centre-of-gravity:t3:2
# text = What works?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The toddler sits in the middle and the dad sits at the end

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:8-balance-the-centre-of-gravity:t3:o1:1
# text = The toddler sits in the middle and the dad sits at the end
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	toddler	toddler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sits	sit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	sits	sit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present | the toddler |  |  | the middle |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in middle=Location |
| 2 | **sit** | present | the dad |  |  |  | at the end |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at end=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It cannot be done at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:8-balance-the-centre-of-gravity:t3:o2:1
# text = It cannot be done at all
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **do** | can · passive |  | It |  | all |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The dad sits at the very end

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:8-balance-the-centre-of-gravity:t3:o3:1
# text = The dad sits at the very end
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sits	sit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present | the dad |  |  |  | at the end |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at end=Location |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The dad sits very close to the middle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:8-balance-the-centre-of-gravity:t3:o4:1
# text = The dad sits very close to the middle
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sits	sit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present | the dad |  |  |  |  | close *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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