---
title: Rolling a snowball makes it pick up more snow the bigger it gets. Wh… — How the Solar System was born · tree and pragmatics
description: Rolling a snowball makes it pick up more snow the bigger it gets. Which stage is like that? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 2 «How the Solar System was born» of the space 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 7 · ★ · How the Solar System was born

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rolling a snowball makes it pick up more snow the bigger it gets. Which stage is like that?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Rolling, snowball, snow · **What happens:** roll, make, pick up, get, be · **To what, where:** snowball, more snow

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 2 «How the Solar System was born» of the space 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/space/2-how-the-solar-system-was-born/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Rolling a snowball makes it pick up more snow the bigger it gets.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:2-how-the-solar-system-was-born:t7:1
# text = Rolling a snowball makes it pick up more snow the bigger it gets.
1	Rolling	roll	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	csubj	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	snowball	snowball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	pick	pick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	advcl	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	gets	get	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roll** | gerund |  | a snowball |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snowball=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | present | Rolling | snowball |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **pick up** | infinitive | snowball *not said here* | more snow |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snow=Topic |
| 4 | **get** | present | snow |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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:* Which stage is like that?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:2-how-the-solar-system-was-born:t7:2
# text = Which stage is like that?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	stage	stage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Sun switching on

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:2-how-the-solar-system-was-born:t7:o1:1
# text = The Sun switching on
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	switching	switch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **switch on** | gerund | the Sun |  |  |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pebbles and rocks sticking together into planetesimals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:2-how-the-solar-system-was-born:t7:o2:1
# text = Pebbles and rocks sticking together into planetesimals
1	Pebbles	pebble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
4	sticking	stick	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	planetesimals	planetesimal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stick together** | gerund | Pebbles and rocks *not said here* |  |  | planetesimals |  | together *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into planetesimal=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Light leaving the Sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:2-how-the-solar-system-was-born:t7:o3:1
# text = Light leaving the Sun
1	Light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | gerund | Light *not said here* | the Sun |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sun=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The planets moving their orbits slowly further out over time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:2-how-the-solar-system-was-born:t7:o4:1
# text = The planets moving their orbits slowly further out over time
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	planets	planet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	moving	move	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	orbits	orbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	further	further	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	out	out	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | gerund | the planets *not said here* | planets's orbits |  |  | time | out *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent orbit=Theme |

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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: [How the Solar System was born, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/2-how-the-solar-system-was-born/t6/)
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