---
title: What would happen to a pond in winter if ice were denser than water? — Floating and sinking: the push of water · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to a pond in winter if ice were denser than water? Test 6 · ★ 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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# Test 6 · ★ · Floating and sinking: the push of water

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to a pond in winter if ice were denser than water?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ice · **What happens:** happen, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 83 «Floating and sinking: the push of water» 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/83-floating-and-sinking/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t6:1
# text = What would happen to a pond in winter if ice were denser than water?
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	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	denser	dense	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	advcl	_	_
13	than	than	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  | winter | to a pond | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | ice |  |  |  |  | than water; dense *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Ice would sink and the pond could freeze from the bottom up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t6:o1:1
# text = Ice would sink and the pond could freeze from the bottom up
1	Ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	sink	sink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	freeze	freeze	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	up	up	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sink** | would | Ice |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **freeze up** | could | the pond |  |  | the bottom |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pond could never freeze at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t6:o2:1
# text = The pond could never freeze at all
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	freeze	freeze	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **freeze** | could | the pond |  |  | all |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ice would float even higher than it does now, right on top of the pond

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t6:o3:1
# text = Ice would float even higher than it does now, right on top of the pond
1	Ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	float	float	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
6	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
9	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	right	right	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float** | would | Ice |  |  | top of the pond |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on top=Trajectory |
| 2 | **do** | present | Ice |  |  |  | now |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ice would turn back into water at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t6:o4:1
# text = The ice would turn back into water at once
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn back** | would | the ice |  |  | water |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/83-floating-and-sinking/t5/)
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