---
title: What would happen to a mobile call if all the phone masts in a town… — Phones and how a call travels · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to a mobile call if all the phone masts in a town were switched off? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 35 «Phones and how a call travels» 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 6 · ★ · Phones and how a call travels

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to a mobile call if all the phone masts in a town were switched off?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** phone · **What happens:** happen, mast, switch off · **To what, where:** town

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This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 35 «Phones and how a call travels» 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/35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:t6:1
# text = What would happen to a mobile call if all the phone masts in a town were switched off?
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	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	mobile	mobile	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	call	call	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	11	det:predet	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	masts	mast	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	switched	switch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
18	off	off	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to a mobile call | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **mast** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | all phone |  |  | a town |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **switch off** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2-1-1 «NP V» |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mobiles there could not make or receive calls

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:t6:o1:1
# text = Mobiles there could not make or receive calls
1	Mobiles	mobile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	1	advmod	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	receive	receive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
8	calls	call	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **make** | could | Mobiles |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 2 | **receive** | infinitive | Mobiles *not said here* | calls |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent call=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Calls would just be quieter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:t6:o2:1
# text = Calls would just be quieter
1	Calls	call	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	quieter	quiet	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | Calls |  |  |  |  | quiet *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Phones would use the street lights instead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:t6:o3:1
# text = Phones would use the street lights instead
1	Phones	phone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	lights	light	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | would | Phones | the street lights |  |  |  | instead *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent light=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Calls would go straight from one phone to the other phone instead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels:t6:o4:1
# text = Calls would go straight from one phone to the other phone instead
1	Calls	call	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
12	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | would | Calls |  |  | one phone |  | to the other phone; instead *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from phone=Initial\_Location to phone=Destination |

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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: [Phones and how a call travels, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels/t5/)
- next →: [Phones and how a call travels, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Phones and how a call travels](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/35-phones-and-how-a-call-travels/)