---
title: You build a tower from spaghetti and marshmallows. It keeps leaning… — Building strong things: bridges, tower… · tree and pragmatics
description: You build a tower from spaghetti and marshmallows. It keeps leaning over. What will help most? Test 1 · ★★ of lesson 86 «Building strong things: bridges, towers and shapes» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova'
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/86-building-strong-things/t1/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/) / [Building strong things: bridges, tower…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/86-building-strong-things/) / t1

# Test 1 · ★★ · Building strong things: bridges, towers and shapes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You build a tower from spaghetti and marshmallows. It keeps leaning over. What will help most?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** You, tower · **What happens:** build, keep, lean over, help · **To what, where:** tower, spaghetti

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★★ of lesson 86 «Building strong things: bridges, towers and shapes» 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/86-building-strong-things/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* You build a tower from spaghetti and marshmallows.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:86-building-strong-things:t1:1
# text = You build a tower from spaghetti and marshmallows.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	build	build	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	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	spaghetti	spaghetti	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	marshmallows	marshmallow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | present | You | a tower |  | spaghetti and marshmallows |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.product PP.material»: agent=Agent tower=Product from spaghetti=Material |

<!-- .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:* It keeps leaning over.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:86-building-strong-things:t1:2
# text = It keeps leaning over.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	leaning	lean	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	over	over	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | tower |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lean over** | gerund | tower *not said here* |  |  |  |  | over *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* What will help most?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:86-building-strong-things:t1:3
# text = What will help most?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | future |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Making the tower much thinner and much taller

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:86-building-strong-things:t1:o1:1
# text = Making the tower much thinner and much taller
1	Making	make	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	csubj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	thinner	thin	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	much	much	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | gerund |  | the tower |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset tower=Product |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Adding diagonal pieces to make triangles

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:86-building-strong-things:t1:o2:1
# text = Adding diagonal pieces to make triangles
1	Adding	add	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	diagonal	diagonal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
6	triangles	triangle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | gerund |  | diagonal pieces |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | triangles |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset triangle=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Putting all the heaviest pieces at the top

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:86-building-strong-things:t1:o3:1
# text = Putting all the heaviest pieces at the top
1	Putting	put	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	5	det:predet	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	heaviest	heavy	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | gerund |  | all heaviest pieces |  | the top |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent piece=Theme at top=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Using lots more marshmallows at the very top

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:86-building-strong-things:t1:o4:1
# text = Using lots more marshmallows at the very top
1	Using	use	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	0	root	_	_
2	lots	lot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	amod	_	_
4	marshmallows	marshmallow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	top	top	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | gerund |  | lots and more marshmallows |  | the top |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lot=Patient |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Pushes, pulls, friction and wheels, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/85-pushes-pulls-friction-wheels/e4/)
- next →: [Building strong things: bridges, tower…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/86-building-strong-things/t2/)
- ↑ back to [Building strong things: bridges, towers and shapes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/86-building-strong-things/)