---
title: What would happen if you broke a magnet into three pieces? — Magnets · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if you broke a magnet into three pieces? Test 8 · ★ 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 8 · ★ · Magnets

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if you broke a magnet into three pieces?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** happen, break · **To what, where:** magnet, three pieces

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This is test 8 · ★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t8:1
# text = What would happen if you broke a magnet into three pieces?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	magnet	magnet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **break** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | you | a magnet |  |  |  | into three pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent magnet=Patient into piece=Result |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pieces would push away all metals near them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t8:o1:1
# text = The pieces would push away all metals near them
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	push	push	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	metals	metal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	near	near	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push away** | would | the pieces | all metals |  |  |  | near metals *= metal*; away *property* | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent metal=Theme near they=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The magnet would lose both of its poles for ever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t8:o2:1
# text = The magnet would lose both of its poles for ever
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	magnet	magnet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	poles	pole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | would | the magnet | both |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent both=Eventuality |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only the middle piece would still be a magnet at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t8:o3:1
# text = Only the middle piece would still be a magnet at all
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	middle	middle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
6	still	still	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	magnet	magnet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | would | the middle piece | a magnet |  | all | still |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each piece would have a north and a south pole

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:81-magnets:t8:o4:1
# text = Each piece would have a north and a south pole
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	north	north	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	south	South	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	pole	pole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would | each piece | a north and a south pole |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent north=Patient |

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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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