---
title: A girl and her much heavier father sit on a see-saw. How can they ba… — Simple machines and how they help · tree and pragmatics
description: A girl and her much heavier father sit on a see-saw. How can they balance? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 52 «Simple machines and how they help» 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 1 · ★ · Simple machines and how they help

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A girl and her much heavier father sit on a see-saw. How can they balance?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** girl · **What happens:** sit, balance · **To what, where:** see saw

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This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 52 «Simple machines and how they help» 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/52-simple-machines/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A girl and her much heavier father sit on a see-saw.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:52-simple-machines:t1:1
# text = A girl and her much heavier father sit on a see-saw.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
8	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	see	see	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	saw	saw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | infinitive | a girl and her heavier father |  |  | a see saw |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on saw=Location |

<!-- .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:* How can they balance?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:52-simple-machines:t1:2
# text = How can they balance?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	balance	balance	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 | **balance** | can | girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They can never balance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:52-simple-machines:t1:o1:1
# text = They can never balance
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	balance	balance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **balance** | can | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The father sits right at the very end of the board

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:52-simple-machines:t1:o2:1
# text = The father sits right at the very end of the board
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sits	sit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	right	right	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	board	board	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present | the father |  |  |  | at the end of the board | right *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at end=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The father sits closer to the middle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:52-simple-machines:t1:o3:1
# text = The father sits closer to the middle
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sits	sit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	closer	close	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present | the father |  |  |  |  | to the middle; close *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The girl sits closer to the middle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:52-simple-machines:t1:o4:1
# text = The girl sits closer to the middle
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sits	sit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	closer	close	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present | the girl |  |  |  |  | to the middle; close *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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: [Forces — pushes, pulls, friction and m…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/51-forces/e4/)
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