---
title: Determine the reason for which a stationary bicycle without support… — Riding a bike: why it stays up · tree and pragmatics
description: Determine the reason for which a stationary bicycle without support falls over. Exam question 4 of lesson 9 «Riding a bike: why it stays up» 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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# Exam question 4 · Riding a bike: why it stays up

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Determine the reason for which a stationary bicycle without support falls over.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, stationary bicycle · **What happens:** determine, fall over · **To what, where:** reason

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 9 «Riding a bike: why it stays up» of the physics course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/9-riding-a-bike/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:e4:1
# text = Determine the reason for which a stationary bicycle without support falls over.
1	Determine	determine	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	stationary	stationary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	bicycle	bicycle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	without	without	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	support	support	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	falls	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl	_	_
12	over	over	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **determine** | imperative | you *not said here* | the reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **fall over** | present | a stationary bicycle without support |  |  |  |  | for the reason; over *property* | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for which=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The tyres lose their air when at rest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:e4:o1:1
# text = The tyres lose their air when at rest
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tyres	tyre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | present | the tyres | tyres's air |  | rest |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent air=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its centre of gravity is located beneath the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:e4:o2:1
# text = Its centre of gravity is located beneath the ground
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	centre	centre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	gravity	gravity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	located	locate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **locate** | present · passive |  | Its centre of gravity |  |  |  | beneath the ground | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No forward motion is available by which to steer beneath the lean

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:e4:o3:1
# text = No forward motion is available by which to steer beneath the lean
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
2	forward	forward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	motion	motion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	available	available	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	steer	steer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
10	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	lean	lean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | no forward motion |  |  |  |  | available *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **steer** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the lean |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent beneath lean=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The frame becomes heavier when stationary

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:e4:o4:1
# text = The frame becomes heavier when stationary
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	frame	frame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	becomes	become	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
6	stationary	stationary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | present | the frame | stationary |  |  |  | heavy *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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: [Riding a bike: why it stays up, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/9-riding-a-bike/e3/)
- next →: [Swings and pendulums, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/10-swings-and-pendulums/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Riding a bike: why it stays up](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/9-riding-a-bike/)