---
title: Why do engineers send electricity at high voltage over long lines bu… — Power stations and the grid · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do engineers send electricity at high voltage over long lines but lower it before it reaches homes? Test 11 · ★ 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 
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · Power stations and the grid

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do engineers send electricity at high voltage over long lines but lower it before it reaches homes?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** engineers, electricity · **What happens:** send, lower, reach · **To what, where:** electricity, high voltage, homes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ 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/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t11:1
# text = Why do engineers send electricity at high voltage over long lines but lower it before it reaches homes?
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	engineers	engineer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	electricity	electricity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	voltage	voltage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	lines	line	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	lower	lower	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	reaches	reach	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
18	homes	home	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | present · do-support | engineers | electricity |  | high voltage |  | over long lines | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent electricity=Theme |
| 2 | **lower** | present | engineers *not said here* | electricity |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **reach** | present | electricity | homes |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent home=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
High voltage wastes less on the way but is far too strong for homes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t11:o1:1
# text = High voltage wastes less on the way but is far too strong for homes
1	High	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	voltage	voltage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wastes	waste	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
11	too	too	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	homes	home	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **waste** | present | High voltage |  |  |  |  | on the way *goal*; less *property* | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent on way=Goal |
| 2 | **is** | present | High voltage *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for homes; far, strong *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Low voltage travels faster on long lines

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t11:o2:1
# text = Low voltage travels faster on long lines
1	Low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	voltage	voltage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	travels	travel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	lines	line	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **travel** | present | Low voltage |  |  | long lines |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on line=Trajectory |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
High voltage is cheaper to use in homes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t11:o3:1
# text = High voltage is cheaper to use in homes
1	High	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	voltage	voltage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	cheaper	cheap	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	homes	home	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | High voltage |  |  |  |  | cheap *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | to-infinitive | High voltage *not said here* |  |  | homes |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Homes need more voltage than lines do

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:32-power-stations-and-the-grid:t11:o4:1
# text = Homes need more voltage than lines do
1	Homes	home	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	amod	_	_
4	voltage	voltage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	lines	line	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | Homes | more voltage |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot voltage=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | present | lines |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «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.

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- ← previous: [Power stations and the grid, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/32-power-stations-and-the-grid/t10/)
- next →: [Power stations and the grid, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/32-power-stations-and-the-grid/e1/)
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