---
title: Why would a submarine with empty tanks find it hard to stay under wa… — Floating and sinking: the push of water · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a submarine with empty tanks find it hard to stay under water? Test 9 · ★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Floating and sinking: the push of water

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a submarine with empty tanks find it hard to stay under water?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** submarine · **What happens:** find, stay · **To what, where:** it, water

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This is test 9 · ★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t9:1
# text = Why would a submarine with empty tanks find it hard to stay under water?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	submarine	submarine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	tanks	tank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	find	find	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	under	under	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | would | a submarine with empty tanks | it |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 2 | **stay** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | water |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under water=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
It would be too heavy and would fall too fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t9:o1:1
# text = It would be too heavy and would fall too fast
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
9	too	too	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | It |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall** | would |  |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Empty tanks stop the propeller from turning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t9:o2:1
# text = Empty tanks stop the propeller from turning
1	Empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	tanks	tank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	propeller	propeller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | Empty tanks | the propeller |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality propeller=Eventuality |
| 2 | **turn** | gerund | Empty tanks *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its engine needs water in the tanks to work at all, so it stops

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t9:o3:1
# text = Its engine needs water in the tanks to work at all, so it stops
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	engine	engine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tanks	tank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | Its engine | water |  | the tanks |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot water=Theme |
| 2 | **work** | to-infinitive | Its engine *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at all | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at all=Theme |
| 3 | **stop** | present | engine |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be too light, so the upthrust pushes it up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:83-floating-and-sinking:t9:o4:1
# text = It would be too light, so the upthrust pushes it up
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	light	light	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	upthrust	upthrust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	pushes	push	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	up	up	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | It |  |  |  |  | light *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **push up** | present | the upthrust | it |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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.

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