Test 10 · The Sun, our star

How did astronomers first notice that the Sun spins?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: astronomers, Sun · What happens: do, notice, spin

This is test 10 of lesson 1 «The Sun, our star» of the space 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.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	How	how	ADV	PronType=Int	2 did	advmod
2	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	astronomers	astronomer	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 notice	nsubj
4	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	5 notice	advmod
5	notice	notice	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 did	ccomp
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 spins	mark
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Sun	det
8	Sun	Sun	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 spins	nsubj
9	spins	spin	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 notice	advcl
10	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 did	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	do	past			tree rules
2	notice	present	astronomers	first property	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
3	spin	present	the Sun		vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme

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

Option 1

By hearing it whirr and hum through a big telescope

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 hearing	mark
2	hearing	hear	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 hearing	obj
4	whirr	whirr	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 hearing	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 hum	cc
6	hum	hum	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 hearing	conj
7	through	through	ADP	_	10 telescope	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 telescope	det
9	big	big	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 telescope	amod
10	telescope	telescope	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 hum	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hear	gerund		it					tree rules
2	hum	infinitive				a big telescope			vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through telescope=Location

Option 2

By seeing its rings go round

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 seeing	mark
2	seeing	see	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 rings	nmod:poss
4	rings	ring	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 go	nsubj
5	go	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 seeing	ccomp
6	round	round	ADV	_	5 go	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	see	gerund							vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
2	go round	present	its rings					round property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

By noticing the year getting shorter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 noticing	mark
2	noticing	notice	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 year	det
4	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 noticing	obj
5	getting	get	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 noticing	conj
6	shorter	short	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 getting	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	notice	gerund					year		vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
2	get	gerund						short property	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

By watching sunspots move across its face

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	SCONJ	_	2 watching	mark
2	watching	watch	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
3	sunspots	sunspot	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 move	nsubj
4	move	move	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 watching	xcomp
5	across	across	ADP	_	7 face	case
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 face	nmod:poss
7	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 move	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	watch	gerund							tree rules
2	move	infinitive	sunspots			its face			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme across face=Trajectory

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/1-the-sun-our-star/t10/