---
title: You have a mix of steel pins and sand. How could you separate them? — Magnets · tree and pragmatics
description: You have a mix of steel pins and sand. How could you separate them? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 81 «Magnets» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · Magnets

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You have a mix of steel pins and sand. How could you separate them?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** You · **What happens:** have, separate · **To what, where:** mix, pins

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 81 «Magnets» 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/81-magnets/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* You have a mix of steel pins and sand.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t1:1
# text = You have a mix of steel pins and sand.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	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	mix	mix	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	pins	pin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | You | a mix of steel pins and sand |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mix=Patient |

<!-- .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 could you separate them?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t1:2
# text = How could you separate them?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	separate	separate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **separate** | could | you | pins *= pin* |  |  |  |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Shake them until the sand floats

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t1:o1:1
# text = Shake them until the sand floats
1	Shake	shake	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	floats	float	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shake** | imperative | you *not said here* | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 2 | **float** | present | the sand |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Heat them until the sand burns

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t1:o2:1
# text = Heat them until the sand burns
1	Heat	heat	VERB	VB	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	burns	burn	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **heat** | imperative | you *not said here* | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 2 | **burn** | present | the sand |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pour water to melt the pins

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t1:o3:1
# text = Pour water to melt the pins
1	Pour	pour	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	melt	melt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	pins	pin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pour** | imperative | you *not said here* | water |  |  |  |  | vn preparing-26.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient |
| 2 | **melt** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | the pins |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient pin=Result |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pull the pins out with a magnet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t1:o4:1
# text = Pull the pins out with a magnet
1	Pull	pull	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	pins	pin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	out	out	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	magnet	magnet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull out** | imperative | you *not said here* | the pins |  |  |  | with a magnet; out *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: [Farms and where our food comes from, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/80-farms-and-our-food/e4/)
- next →: [Magnets, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/81-magnets/t2/)
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