---
title: Identify the principal reason for which ice floats upon water. — Floating and sinking: the push of water · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which ice floats upon water. Exam question 3 of lesson 83 «Floating and sinking: the push of water» 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.
---

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# Exam question 3 · Floating and sinking: the push of water

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which ice floats upon water.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, ice · **What happens:** identify, float · **To what, where:** principal reason, water

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 83 «Floating and sinking: the push of water» of the world course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/83-floating-and-sinking/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:e3:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which ice floats upon water.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
7	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	floats	float	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl	_	_
9	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **float** | present | ice |  |  | water |  | for the principal reason | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon water=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 -->
Water expands when frozen, so ice is lighter than the same amount of water

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:e3:o1:1
# text = Water expands when frozen, so ice is lighter than the same amount of water
1	Water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	expands	expand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
4	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	advcl	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	amount	amount	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expand** | present | Water |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **freeze** | participle | Water *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | present | ice |  |  |  |  | than the same amount of water; light *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **amount** |  |  | water |  |  |  |  | nom amount «possession transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ice possesses no weight whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:e3:o2:1
# text = Ice possesses no weight whatsoever
1	Ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | Ice | no weight |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot weight=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ice contains bubbles of a gas lighter than air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:e3:o3:1
# text = Ice contains bubbles of a gas lighter than air
1	Ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	contains	contain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	bubbles	bubble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contain** | present | Ice | bubbles of a gas |  |  |  | light *property* | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot bubble=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ice is pushed upwards by the cold of the water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:e3:o4:1
# text = Ice is pushed upwards by the cold of the water
1	Ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	pushed	push	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	upwards	upwards	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cold	cold	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	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | present · passive | the cold of the water | Ice |  |  |  | upwards *property* | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Floating and sinking: the push of water, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/83-floating-and-sinking/e2/)
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