---
title: You scratch a mineral with a steel nail and the nail leaves no mark,… — Rocks, minerals and fossils · tree and pragmatics
description: You scratch a mineral with a steel nail and the nail leaves no mark, but the mineral scratches the nail. What do you learn? Test 5 of lesson 61 «Rocks, minerals and fossils» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova
---

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# Test 5 · Rocks, minerals and fossils

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You scratch a mineral with a steel nail and the nail leaves no mark, but the mineral scratches the nail. What do you learn?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** You, nail, mineral · **What happens:** scratch, leave, learn · **To what, where:** mineral, mark, nail

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This is test 5 of lesson 61 «Rocks, minerals and fossils» 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/61-rocks-minerals-fossils/#t5).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* You scratch a mineral with a steel nail and the nail leaves no mark, but the mineral scratches the nail.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:61-rocks-minerals-fossils:t5:1
# text = You scratch a mineral with a steel nail and the nail leaves no mark, but the mineral scratches the nail.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	scratch	scratch	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	mineral	mineral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	nail	nail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	nail	nail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	leaves	leave	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	14	det	_	_
14	mark	mark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	mineral	mineral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	scratches	scratch	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	nail	nail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scratch** | present | You | a mineral |  |  |  | with a steel nail | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mineral=Patient with nail=Instrument |
| 2 | **leave** | present | the nail | no mark |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mark=Theme |
| 3 | **scratch** | present | the mineral | the nail |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nail=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:* What do you learn?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:61-rocks-minerals-fossils:t5:2
# text = What do you learn?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	learn	learn	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 | **learn** | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The mineral is softer than the steel

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:61-rocks-minerals-fossils:t5:o1:1
# text = The mineral is softer than the steel
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mineral	mineral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	softer	soft	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the mineral |  |  |  |  | than the steel; soft *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The mineral must be diamond

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:61-rocks-minerals-fossils:t5:o2:1
# text = The mineral must be diamond
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mineral	mineral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	diamond	diamond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | must | the mineral |  |  |  |  | diamond *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hardness cannot be tested this way

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:61-rocks-minerals-fossils:t5:o3:1
# text = Hardness cannot be tested this way
1	Hardness	hardness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	tested	test	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **test** | can · passive |  | Hardness |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP.attribute»: subject=Theme way=Attribute |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The mineral is harder than the steel

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:61-rocks-minerals-fossils:t5:o4:1
# text = The mineral is harder than the steel
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mineral	mineral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the mineral |  |  |  |  | than the steel; hard *property* | tree rules |

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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: [Rocks, minerals and fossils, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/61-rocks-minerals-fossils/t4/)
- next →: [Rocks, minerals and fossils, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/61-rocks-minerals-fossils/t6/)
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