---
title: What would happen if a mixer lorry got stuck in traffic and its drum… — Diggers, cranes and cement mixers · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a mixer lorry got stuck in traffic and its drum stopped turning for hours? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 28 «Diggers, cranes and cement mixers» of the technology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Diggers, cranes and cement mixers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a mixer lorry got stuck in traffic and its drum stopped turning for hours?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** drum · **What happens:** happen, stop, turn

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 28 «Diggers, cranes and cement mixers» of the technology 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/technology/28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t4:1
# text = What would happen if a mixer lorry got stuck in traffic and its drum stopped turning for hours?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	mixer	mixer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	lorry	lorry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	got	get	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	stuck	stuck	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	traffic	traffic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
16	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	xcomp	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **stop** | past | lorry's drum |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **turn** | gerund | lorry's drum *not said here* |  |  |  | hour |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=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 -->
Nothing, concrete never sets while it is inside a lorry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t4:o1:1
# text = Nothing, concrete never sets while it is inside a lorry
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	concrete	concrete	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	sets	set	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	lorry	lorry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **set** | present | Nothing |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | present | concrete |  |  | a lorry |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The drum would start turning on its own

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t4:o2:1
# text = The drum would start turning on its own
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | would | the drum |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **turn** | gerund | the drum *not said here* |  |  | drum's own |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme on own=Trajectory |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The concrete could set hard inside the drum

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t4:o3:1
# text = The concrete could set hard inside the drum
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	concrete	concrete	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
6	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | could | the concrete |  |  | the drum |  | hard *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent inside drum=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The concrete would turn back into sand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t4:o4:1
# text = The concrete would turn back into sand
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	concrete	concrete	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn back** | would | the concrete |  |  | sand |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- 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 -->

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