---
title: Mia's brother at Greenwich at 1 pm: "A ball drops down a pole. Is th… — Pendulums, Greenwich and railway time,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Mia's brother at Greenwich at 1 pm: "A ball drops down a pole. Is that it?!" Why did it matter? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 123 «Pendulums, Greenwich and railway time, atomic clocks and phones» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Pendulums, Greenwich and railway time, atomic clocks and p…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mia's brother at Greenwich at 1 pm: "A ball drops down a pole. Is that it?!" Why did it matter?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ball · **What happens:** drop down, be, matter · **To what, where:** pole, ball

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 123 «Pendulums, Greenwich and railway time, atomic clocks and phones» 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/123-pendulums-greenwich-atomic-clocks/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Mia's brother at Greenwich at 1 pm: "A ball drops down a pole.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:123-pendulums-greenwich-atomic-clocks:t4:1
# text = Mia's brother at Greenwich at 1 pm: "A ball drops down a pole.
1	Mia	Mia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Greenwich	Greenwich	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	1	1	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	pm	p.m.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	drops	drop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	down	down	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	pole	pole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop down** *in a quote* | present | a ball | a pole |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pole=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Is that it?!"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:123-pendulums-greenwich-atomic-clocks:t4:2
# text = Is that it?!"
1	Is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	that	that	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?!	?!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present |  |  |  |  |  | that ball | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* Why did it matter?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:123-pendulums-greenwich-atomic-clocks:t4:3
# text = Why did it matter?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
4	matter	matter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **matter** | past · do-support |  | ball |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It warned that the observatory was closing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:123-pendulums-greenwich-atomic-clocks:t4:o1:1
# text = It warned that the observatory was closing
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	warned	warn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	observatory	observatory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	closing	close	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **warn** *speech: warn* | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **close** | past · progressive | the observatory |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ships on the Thames used it to set their clocks exactly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:123-pendulums-greenwich-atomic-clocks:t4:o2:1
# text = Ships on the Thames used it to set their clocks exactly
1	Ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Thames	Thames	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	clocks	clock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | Ships on the Thames | Thames |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **set** | to-infinitive | Ships on the Thames *not said here* | Ships's clocks |  |  |  | exactly *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient clock=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was the signal for everyone in London to stop for lunch

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:123-pendulums-greenwich-atomic-clocks:t4:o3:1
# text = It was the signal for everyone in London to stop for lunch
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	signal	signal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	4	nmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	London	London	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	lunch	lunch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | the signal |  |  |  | for everyone | tree rules |
| 2 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | for lunch | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It told sailors the tide was coming in

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:123-pendulums-greenwich-atomic-clocks:t4:o4:1
# text = It told sailors the tide was coming in
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	iobj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tide	tide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
8	in	in	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | It |  | sailors |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent sailor=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **come in** | past · progressive | the tide |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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