---
title: Why does it sometimes snow instead of rain? — Weather: pressure, wind, clouds and st… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does it sometimes snow instead of rain? Test 8 of lesson 15 «Weather: pressure, wind, clouds and storms» 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 8 · Weather: pressure, wind, clouds and storms

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does it sometimes snow instead of rain?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **What happens:** do · **To what, where:** it

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 15 «Weather: pressure, wind, clouds and storms» 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/15-weather/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:15-weather:t8:1
# text = Why does it sometimes snow instead of rain?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	5	advmod	_	_
5	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	8	case	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present |  | it |  |  |  | instead rain | 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 -->
The cloud is very old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:15-weather:t8:o1:1
# text = The cloud is very old
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cloud	cloud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cloud floats very high above the sea, where the air is always thin and dry

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:15-weather:t8:o2:1
# text = The cloud floats very high above the sea, where the air is always thin and dry
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cloud	cloud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	floats	float	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
6	above	above	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	15	advmod	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	15	advmod	_	_
15	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float** | present | the cloud |  |  |  |  | high *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | the air |  |  |  |  | always, thin *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | the air *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The air is cold enough for the ice crystals to stay frozen as they fall

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:15-weather:t8:o3:1
# text = The air is cold enough for the ice crystals to stay frozen as they fall
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	crystals	crystal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
12	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	xcomp	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the air |  |  |  |  | for the ice crystals; cold, enough *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stay** | to-infinitive | the air *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **freeze** | participle | the air *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **fall** | present | crystals *= crystal* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wind is very strong

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:15-weather:t8:o4:1
# text = The wind is very strong
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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: [Weather: pressure, wind, clouds and st…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/15-weather/t7/)
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