---
title: Portly goes missing and the Otter fears the weir. Why is a weir dang… — Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs… · tree and pragmatics
description: Portly goes missing and the Otter fears the weir. Why is a weir dangerous for a small swimmer? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 41 «Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs, water-mills, barges and how not to tip a rowing boat» of the technology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragm
---

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# Test 5 · ★★ · Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs, water-mills, barge…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Portly goes missing and the Otter fears the weir. Why is a weir dangerous for a small swimmer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Portly, Otter, weir · **What happens:** go, fear, be · **To what, where:** weir

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 41 «Rivers, canals and boats: locks, weirs, water-mills, barges and how not to tip a rowing boat» 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/41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Portly goes missing and the Otter fears the weir.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:t5:1
# text = Portly goes missing and the Otter fears the weir.
1	Portly	Portly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	missing	missing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Otter	Otter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	fears	fear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	weir	weir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | Portly |  |  |  |  | missing *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fear** | present | the Otter | the weir |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer weir=Stimulus |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why is a weir dangerous for a small swimmer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:t5:2
# text = Why is a weir dangerous for a small swimmer?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	weir	weir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	swimmer	swimmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a weir |  |  |  |  | for a small swimmer; dangerous *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Weirs are electric

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:t5:o1:1
# text = Weirs are electric
1	Weirs	weir	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	electric	electric	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Weirs suck everything up into the air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:t5:o2:1
# text = Weirs suck everything up into the air
1	Weirs	weir	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	suck	suck	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	2	obj	_	_
4	up	up	ADV	RB	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suck up** | present | Weirs | everything |  | the air |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent everything=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The churning water below it can hold a swimmer under

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:t5:o3:1
# text = The churning water below it can hold a swimmer under
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	churning	churning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	below	below	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	_
6	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	swimmer	swimmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	under	under	ADP	IN	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold under** | can | the churning water below it | a swimmer |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent swimmer=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The water above a weir is always boiling hot in summer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:41-rivers-canals-and-boats-locks-weirs-water-mills-barges-and-how-not-to-tip-a-rowing-boat:t5:o4:1
# text = The water above a weir is always boiling hot in summer
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	above	above	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	weir	weir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
8	boiling	boil	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	summer	summer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **boil** | present · progressive | the water above a weir |  |  |  |  | always, hot *property* | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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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