---
title: What would happen if a town sent fewer firefighters to big fires? — Correlation is not cause: ice cream an… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a town sent fewer firefighters to big fires? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 180 «Correlation is not cause: ice cream and sunburn» 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 2 · ★ · Correlation is not cause: ice cream and sunburn

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a town sent fewer firefighters to big fires?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** town · **What happens:** happen, send · **To what, where:** town, fewer firefighters

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 180 «Correlation is not cause: ice cream and sunburn» 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/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn:t2:1
# text = What would happen if a town sent fewer firefighters to big fires?
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	_	6	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
8	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	firefighters	firefighter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	fires	fire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  | a town |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **send** | participle | a town *not said here* | fewer firefighters |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent firefighter=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fires would probably do more damage

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn:t2:o1:1
# text = The fires would probably do more damage
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fires	fire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	damage	damage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | would | the fires | more damage |  |  |  | probably *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent damage=Eventuality |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There would be much less damage, with fewer hoses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn:t2:o2:1
# text = There would be much less damage, with fewer hoses
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	damage	damage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	amod	_	_
10	hoses	hose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | would | less damage and fewer hoses |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing would change at all, the damage stays the same

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn:t2:o3:1
# text = Nothing would change at all, the damage stays the same
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	damage	damage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	stays	stay	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | would | Nothing |  |  | all |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **stay** | present | the damage |  |  |  |  | same *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fires would shrink straight away on their own

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn:t2:o4:1
# text = The fires would shrink straight away on their own
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fires	fire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	shrink	shrink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shrink** | would | the fires |  |  | fires's own |  | away *property* | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=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: [Correlation is not cause: ice cream an…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/t1/)
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- ↑ back to [Correlation is not cause: ice cream and sunburn](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/180-correlation-is-not-cause-ice-cream-and-sunburn/)