---
title: Why do tall buildings need piles under them? — Diggers, cranes and cement mixers · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do tall buildings need piles under them? Test 8 · ★ 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 right.
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Diggers, cranes and cement mixers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do tall buildings need piles under them?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** tall buildings · **What happens:** need · **To what, where:** piles

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t8:1
# text = Why do tall buildings need piles under them?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	buildings	building	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	piles	pile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	under	under	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present · do-support | tall buildings | piles |  |  |  | under piles *= pile* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot pile=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 -->
To stop worms getting in

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t8:o1:1
# text = To stop worms getting in
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	worms	worm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
5	in	in	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  | worms |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **get in** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To carry their weight down to firm ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t8:o2:1
# text = To carry their weight down to firm ground
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	carry	carry	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	firm	firm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry down** | to-infinitive |  | their weight |  | firm ground |  | down *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent weight=Theme to ground=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To keep water out of the basement

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t8:o3:1
# text = To keep water out of the basement
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	basement	basement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | water |  | the basement |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent water=Theme out basement=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To give the tower crane something firm to stand on while it works

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:28-diggers-cranes-and-cement-mixers:t8:o4:1
# text = To give the tower crane something firm to stand on while it works
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	crane	crane	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obj	_	_
7	firm	firm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | to-infinitive |  | something |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Theme |
| 2 | **stand on** | to-infinitive |  | something *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **work** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «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.

<!-- /div -->

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