---
title: What would happen if the train in Mum's riddle were an old steam tra… — Trick questions that catch quick think… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if the train in Mum's riddle were an old steam train going north, with the wind blowing south? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 181 «Trick questions that catch quick thinkers» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opti
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Trick questions that catch quick thinkers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if the train in Mum's riddle were an old steam train going north, with the wind blowing south?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** train, old steam train, wind, Mum · **What happens:** happen, be, go, blow, riddle · **To what, where:** old steam train

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 181 «Trick questions that catch quick thinkers» 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/181-trick-questions-that-catch-quick-thinkers/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:181-trick-questions-that-catch-quick-thinkers:t6:1
# text = What would happen if the train in Mum's riddle were an old steam train going north, with the wind blowing south?
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	_	15	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	train	train	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	Mum	Mum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	steam	steam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	train	train	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
16	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	acl	_	_
17	north	north	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
22	blowing	blow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	acl	_	_
23	south	south	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | with the wind | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the train in Mum's riddle | a old steam train |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | gerund | a old steam train *not said here* |  |  |  |  | north *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **blow** | gerund | the wind *not said here* |  |  |  |  | south *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **riddle** |  | Mum |  |  |  |  |  | nom riddle «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
Then there would be smoke, and it would drift south

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:181-trick-questions-that-catch-quick-thinkers:t6:o1:1
# text = Then there would be smoke, and it would drift south
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	drift	drift	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	_
11	south	south	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | imperative | you *not said here* | smoke |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **drift** | would | smoke | smoke *not said here* |  |  |  | south *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location smoke=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The smoke would always go north with the train

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:181-trick-questions-that-catch-quick-thinkers:t6:o2:1
# text = The smoke would always go north with the train
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	north	north	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	train	train	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | would | the smoke |  |  |  |  | with the train; always, north *property* | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with train=Beneficiary |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The train couldn't move against the wind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:181-trick-questions-that-catch-quick-thinkers:t6:o3:1
# text = The train couldn't move against the wind
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	train	train	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	against	against	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **move** | could | the train |  |  | the wind |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme against wind=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There would still be no smoke at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:181-trick-questions-that-catch-quick-thinkers:t6:o4:1
# text = There would still be no smoke at all
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	still	still	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | would | no smoke |  |  | all; there | still |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at all=Location |

<!-- div src -->

**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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