---
title: Why do people wobble so much on a bike at walking speed? — Riding a bike: why it stays up · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do people wobble so much on a bike at walking speed? Test 6 · ★★ 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/9-riding-a-bike/t6/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Physics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/) / [Riding a bike: why it stays up](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/9-riding-a-bike/) / t6

# Test 6 · ★★ · Riding a bike: why it stays up

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do people wobble so much on a bike at walking speed?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** people · **What happens:** wobble · **To what, where:** bike

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★★ of lesson 9 «Riding a bike: why it stays up» 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/9-riding-a-bike/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:t6:1
# text = Why do people wobble so much on a bike at walking speed?
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	wobble	wobble	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	bike	bike	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	walking	walking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wobble** | present · do-support | people |  |  | a bike |  | at walking speed | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on bike=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bike is heavier when slow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:t6:o1:1
# text = The bike is heavier when slow
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bike	bike	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	6	mark	_	_
6	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Slow riding needs bigger steering to stay up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:t6:o2:1
# text = Slow riding needs bigger steering to stay up
1	Slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	riding	riding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	steering	steering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | Slow riding | bigger steering |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **stay up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | bigger steering *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Slow wheels lose all their air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:t6:o3:1
# text = Slow wheels lose all their air
1	Slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	wheels	wheel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pedals pull you sideways

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:9-riding-a-bike:t6:o4:1
# text = The pedals pull you sideways
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pedals	pedal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pull	pull	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	sideways	sideways	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | present | the pedals | you |  |  |  | sideways *property* | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP ADJP-Result»: agent=Agent you=Result |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Riding a bike: why it stays up, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/9-riding-a-bike/t5/)
- next →: [Riding a bike: why it stays up, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/9-riding-a-bike/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Riding a bike: why it stays up](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/9-riding-a-bike/)