---
title: A ball thrown sideways from a very high tower lands far away. If it… — Rockets, satellites and astronauts · tree and pragmatics
description: A ball thrown sideways from a very high tower lands far away. If it could be thrown fast enough, with no air in the way, what would happen? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 71 «Rockets, satellites and astronauts» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the quest
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Rockets, satellites and astronauts

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A ball thrown sideways from a very high tower lands far away. If it could be thrown fast enough, with no air in the way, what would happen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** ball, way · **What happens:** throw, land, happen · **To what, where:** ball, high tower, way

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 71 «Rockets, satellites and astronauts» 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/71-rockets-satellites-astronauts/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A ball thrown sideways from a very high tower lands far away.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:71-rockets-satellites-astronauts:t8:1
# text = A ball thrown sideways from a very high tower lands far away.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
3	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	sideways	sideways	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	lands	land	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
12	away	away	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | participle |  | a ball *not said here* |  | a high tower |  | sideways *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent from tower=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **land** | present | a ball |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=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:* If it could be thrown fast enough, with no air in the way, what would happen?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:71-rockets-satellites-astronauts:t8:2
# text = If it could be thrown fast enough, with no air in the way, what would happen?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
7	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	11	det	_	_
11	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | could · passive |  | ball |  | the way |  | with no air; enough, fast *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: subject=Theme in way=Destination |
| 2 | **happen** | would | the way |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would stop in mid-air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:71-rockets-satellites-astronauts:t8:o1:1
# text = It would stop in mid-air
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	mid-air	mid-air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | It |  |  | mid-air |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in mid-air=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would land right at the foot of the tower

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:71-rockets-satellites-astronauts:t8:o2:1
# text = It would land right at the foot of the tower
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	land	land	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	right	right	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **land** | would | It |  |  | the foot of the tower |  | right *property* | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would fly straight up into space

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:71-rockets-satellites-astronauts:t8:o3:1
# text = It would fly straight up into space
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	up	up	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | would | It |  |  |  |  | into space *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into space=Result |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would fall all the way around the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:71-rockets-satellites-astronauts:t8:o4:1
# text = It would fall all the way around the Earth
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	around	around	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | would | It | all way |  | the Earth |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme around earth=Location |

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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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