---
title: Ascertain the means by which steel cans are separated at recycling p… — Recycling, waste and plastic · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the means by which steel cans are separated at recycling plants. Exam question 3 of lesson 88 «Recycling, waste and plastic» 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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# Exam question 3 · Recycling, waste and plastic

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the means by which steel cans are separated at recycling plants.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, the · **What happens:** ascertain, mean, separate · **To what, where:** steel cans, recycling plants · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 88 «Recycling, waste and plastic» 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/88-recycling-waste-plastic/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:88-recycling-waste-plastic:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the means by which steel cans are separated at recycling plants.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
6	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	cans	can	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	separated	separate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	recycling	recycling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** | present | the |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **separate** | present · passive |  | steel cans |  | recycling plants |  |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By wind

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:88-recycling-waste-plastic:e3:o1:1
# text = By wind
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By magnets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:88-recycling-waste-plastic:e3:o2:1
# text = By magnets
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	magnets	magnet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By hand alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:88-recycling-waste-plastic:e3:o3:1
# text = By hand alone
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:88-recycling-waste-plastic:e3:o4:1
# text = By water
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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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- ← previous: [Recycling, waste and plastic, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/88-recycling-waste-plastic/e2/)
- next →: [Recycling, waste and plastic, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/88-recycling-waste-plastic/e4/)
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