---
title: If there were no air in a room, could you hear a ringing alarm clock… — Sound — vibrations, loudness, pitch an… · tree and pragmatics
description: If there were no air in a room, could you hear a ringing alarm clock in it? Test 8 of lesson 54 «Sound — vibrations, loudness, pitch and echoes» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/54-sound/t8/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/) / [Sound — vibrations, loudness, pitch an…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/54-sound/) / t8

# Test 8 · Sound — vibrations, loudness, pitch and echoes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If there were no air in a room, could you hear a ringing alarm clock in it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** air, you · **What happens:** be, hear · **To what, where:** ringing alarm clock, air

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 54 «Sound — vibrations, loudness, pitch and echoes» 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/54-sound/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:54-sound:t8:1
# text = If there were no air in a room, could you hear a ringing alarm clock in it?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	ringing	ringing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
15	alarm	alarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	clock	clock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | no air in a room |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **hear** | could | you | a ringing alarm clock |  | air |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer clock=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
No, sound needs something to travel through

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:54-sound:t8:o1:1
# text = No, sound needs something to travel through
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	travel	travel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	through	through	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | sound | something |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot something=Theme |
| 2 | **travel** | to-infinitive | sound *not said here* | something *not said here* |  |  |  | through *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only more quietly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:54-sound:t8:o2:1
# text = Yes, but only more quietly
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
6	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only if the clock is metal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:54-sound:t8:o3:1
# text = Only if the clock is metal
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	clock	clock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, sound travels best in empty space

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:54-sound:t8:o4:1
# text = Yes, sound travels best in empty space
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	travels	travel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	best	well	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	4	advmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **travel** | present | sound |  |  | empty space |  | well *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in space=Trajectory |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Sound — vibrations, loudness, pitch an…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/54-sound/t7/)
- next →: [Sound — vibrations, loudness, pitch an…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/54-sound/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Sound — vibrations, loudness, pitch and echoes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/54-sound/)