---
title: Why would a hydroelectric station pump water uphill at night when el… — Power stations and the grid · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a hydroelectric station pump water uphill at night when electricity is cheap? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 32 «Power stations and the grid» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · Power stations and the grid

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a hydroelectric station pump water uphill at night when electricity is cheap?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** hydroelectric pump water · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 32 «Power stations and the grid» 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/32-power-stations-and-the-grid/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t10:1
# text = Why would a hydroelectric station pump water uphill at night when electricity is cheap?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	hydroelectric	hydroelectric	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
5	station	station	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	pump	pump	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
8	uphill	uphill	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
12	electricity	electricity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	cheap	cheap	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | a hydroelectric pump water at night |  |  |  |  | cheap *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
To clean the water in the lake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t10:o1:1
# text = To clean the water in the lake
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	clean	clean	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clean** | to-infinitive |  | the water |  | the lake |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent water=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To stop the lake freezing over on the coldest winter nights of the year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t10:o2:1
# text = To stop the lake freezing over on the coldest winter nights of the year
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	freezing	freeze	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	over	over	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	coldest	cold	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	amod	_	_
10	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  | the lake |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality lake=Eventuality |
| 2 | **freeze over** | gerund | the lake *not said here* |  |  |  | night | over *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To make the dam heavier

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t10:o3:1
# text = To make the dam heavier
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	dam	dam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | the dam |  |  |  | heavy *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset dam=Product |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To let it run down through turbines later when more is needed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t10:o4:1
# text = To let it run down through turbines later when more is needed
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	turbines	turbine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
10	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	needed	need	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | to-infinitive |  | it |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **run down** | infinitive |  |  |  | turbines |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through turbine=Trajectory |
| 3 | **need** | present · passive |  | more |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=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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