---
title: A ball of plasticine sinks, but the same plasticine pressed into a b… — Materials and their properties · tree and pragmatics
description: A ball of plasticine sinks, but the same plasticine pressed into a boat shape floats. Why? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 18 «Materials and their properties» 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 3 · ★★ · Materials and their properties

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A ball of plasticine sinks, but the same plasticine pressed into a boat shape floats. Why?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ball, same plasticine · **What happens:** sink, press, float · **To what, where:** same plasticine, boat shape

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 18 «Materials and their properties» 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/18-materials-and-properties/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A ball of plasticine sinks, but the same plasticine pressed into a boat shape floats.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:18-materials-and-properties:t3:1
# text = A ball of plasticine sinks, but the same plasticine pressed into a boat shape floats.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	plasticine	plasticine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	sinks	sink	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	plasticine	plasticine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
11	pressed	press	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	into	into	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	floats	float	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** | present | a ball of plasticine |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **press** | participle |  | the same plasticine *not said here* |  | a boat shape |  |  | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent into shape=Trajectory |
| 3 | **float** | present | the same plasticine |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=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:* Why?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:18-materials-and-properties:t3:2
# text = Why?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The boat shape pushes aside enough water to hold it up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:18-materials-and-properties:t3:o1:1
# text = The boat shape pushes aside enough water to hold it up
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	pushes	push	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	aside	aside	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	enough	enough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	up	up	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | present | the boat shape | enough water |  |  |  | aside *property* | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme |
| 2 | **hold up** | to-infinitive | the boat shape *not said here* | water |  |  |  |  | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The water under the boat is warmer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:18-materials-and-properties:t3:o2:1
# text = The water under the boat is warmer
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	under	under	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	warmer	warm	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The plasticine became lighter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:18-materials-and-properties:t3:o3:1
# text = The plasticine became lighter
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	plasticine	plasticine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | the plasticine |  |  |  |  | light *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Boats can only float on salty water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:18-materials-and-properties:t3:o4:1
# text = Boats can only float on salty water
1	Boats	boat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	float	float	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	salty	salty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float** | can | Boats |  |  | salty water |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on water=Trajectory |

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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: [Materials and their properties, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/18-materials-and-properties/t2/)
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