---
title: What would happen if a clock's two hands were exactly the same length? — Reading the clock: hours, minutes and… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a clock's two hands were exactly the same length? Test 6 of lesson 101 «Reading the clock: hours, minutes and the two hands» of the world 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 6 · Reading the clock: hours, minutes and the two hands

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a clock's two hands were exactly the same length?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** two hands · **What happens:** happen, be · **To what, where:** same length

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 101 «Reading the clock: hours, minutes and the two hands» of the world 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/world/101-reading-the-clock-hours-minutes-hands/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:101-reading-the-clock-hours-minutes-hands:t6:1
# text = What would happen if a clock's two hands were exactly the same length?
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	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	clock	clock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
11	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a clock's two hands | the same length |  |  |  | exactly *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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would show only o'clock times

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:101-reading-the-clock-hours-minutes-hands:t6:o1:1
# text = It would show only o'clock times
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | would | It |  |  |  | time |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You could not tell which hand shows the hour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:101-reading-the-clock-hours-minutes-hands:t6:o2:1
# text = You could not tell which hand shows the hour
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	6	det	_	_
6	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | could | You |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **show** | present | which hand |  |  |  | hour |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The clock would run twice as fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:101-reading-the-clock-hours-minutes-hands:t6:o3:1
# text = The clock would run twice as fast
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	clock	clock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	advmod	_	_
6	as	as	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | would | the clock |  |  |  |  | fast, twice *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would show seconds instead of minutes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:101-reading-the-clock-hours-minutes-hands:t6:o4:1
# text = It would show seconds instead of minutes
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	7	case	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	fixed	_	_
7	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | would | It |  |  |  | minute; second |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Reading the clock: hours, minutes and…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/101-reading-the-clock-hours-minutes-hands/t5/)
- next →: [Reading the clock: hours, minutes and…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/101-reading-the-clock-hours-minutes-hands/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Reading the clock: hours, minutes and the two hands](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/101-reading-the-clock-hours-minutes-hands/)