---
title: Ascertain the principal reason for which wheels upon iron rails move… — Transport: from horses to planes · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the principal reason for which wheels upon iron rails move more easily than upon a rough road. Exam question 3 of lesson 99 «Transport: from horses to planes» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's ch
---

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# Exam question 3 · Transport: from horses to planes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the principal reason for which wheels upon iron rails move more easily than upon a rough road.

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 99 «Transport: from horses to planes» 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/99-transport-horses-to-planes/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the principal reason for which wheels upon iron rails move more easily than upon a rough road.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	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	11	obl	_	_
7	wheels	wheel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
8	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	rails	rail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
11	move	move	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
12	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	13	advmod	_	_
13	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **move** | present | wheels upon iron rails |  |  |  |  | for the principal reason; than a rough road; easily *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Smooth iron rails give much less friction

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:e3:o1:1
# text = Smooth iron rails give much less friction
1	Smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	rails	rail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	friction	friction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | present | Smooth iron rails | less friction |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friction=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rough roads have no friction whatsoever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:e3:o2:1
# text = Rough roads have no friction whatsoever
1	Rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	friction	friction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Rough roads | no friction |  |  |  | whatsoever *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friction=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Iron rails pull the wheels by magnetism

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:e3:o3:1
# text = Iron rails pull the wheels by magnetism
1	Iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	rails	rail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pull	pull	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	wheels	wheel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	magnetism	magnetism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | present | Iron rails | the wheels |  |  |  | by magnetism | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wheel=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Iron rails reduce the weight of the train

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:99-transport-horses-to-planes:e3:o4:1
# text = Iron rails reduce the weight of the train
1	Iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	rails	rail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reduce	reduce	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	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	train	train	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reduce** | present | Iron rails | the weight of the train |  |  |  |  | vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer weight=Patient |

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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: [Transport: from horses to planes, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/99-transport-horses-to-planes/e2/)
- next →: [Transport: from horses to planes, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/99-transport-horses-to-planes/e4/)
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