---
title: Why can a gas be squeezed but a solid hardly at all? — Solids, liquids and gases · tree and pragmatics
description: Why can a gas be squeezed but a solid hardly at all? Test 3 of lesson 11 «Solids, liquids and gases» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 3 · Solids, liquids and gases

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why can a gas be squeezed but a solid hardly at all?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** squeeze · **To what, where:** gas

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 11 «Solids, liquids and gases» 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/11-solids-liquids-gases/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:11-solids-liquids-gases:t3:1
# text = Why can a gas be squeezed but a solid hardly at all?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	squeezed	squeeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	solid	solid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
10	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **squeeze** | can · passive |  | a gas |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gas particles are softer than solid ones

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:11-solids-liquids-gases:t3:o1:1
# text = Gas particles are softer than solid ones
1	Gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	particles	particle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	softer	soft	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	solid	solid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Gas particles |  |  |  |  | than solid ones; soft *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gas particles have lots of space between them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:11-solids-liquids-gases:t3:o2:1
# text = Gas particles have lots of space between them
1	Gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	particles	particle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	lots	lot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	between	between	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Gas particles | lots of space between lots |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lot=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Solid particles are much bigger than gas ones

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:11-solids-liquids-gases:t3:o3:1
# text = Solid particles are much bigger than gas ones
1	Solid	solid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	particles	particle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Solid particles |  |  |  |  | than gas ones; big *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gases have no particles in them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:11-solids-liquids-gases:t3:o4:1
# text = Gases have no particles in them
1	Gases	gas	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	particles	particle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Gases | no particles |  |  |  | in particles *= particle* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent particle=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.

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- ← previous: [Solids, liquids and gases, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/11-solids-liquids-gases/t2/)
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