Seasons and tides
Tests: 6 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 6 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 40 of the physics course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★★ · right ✓
my cousin reckons summer's hot cos we're closer to the sun then. right?
- 1. Yes, but only in Britain — no support
- 2. No, summer is caused by the Moon coming closer and warming us — no support
- 3. Yes, we're much closer in July — no support
- 4. No, it's the tilt; the Earth is actually nearest in January — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 40, line 7: «Seasons are not caused by distance from the Sun; the Earth is nearest to the Sun in January.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «earth» (+3); the same place «january» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★★ · right ✓
Shine a torch straight down and then at a slant. What does it show about winter sunshine?
- 1. Light only shines straight down — score 2
- 2. The torch gets dimmer when tilted — no support
- 3. Slanted light is hotter than straight light, so winters are warm — no support
- 4. Slanted light spreads over a bigger patch and warms less — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 4, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 40, line 2: «Shine a torch straight down on the table and the spot is small and bright; tilt it and the spot spreads out bigger and dimmer, and that is why a low winter Sun…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «warm» (+3); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★★ · wrong ✗
An Australian pen pal says she's going to the beach on Christmas Day. Why isn't that a joke?
- 1. The beach is heated for Christmas — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Australia has no winter at all — no support
- 3. It is summer there in December — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Australians move Christmas to July — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★★ · right ✓
In a cartoon, a lake in the park has high and low tides like the sea. What's wrong?
- 1. Lakes have bigger tides than the sea — score 7
- 2. Nothing, all water has big tides — no support
- 3. A lake is far too small to show tides you can see — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
- 4. Lakes have tides only at night, when the Moon is out — score 7
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 11, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 40, line 16: «The Moon pulls lakes too, but a lake is too small to show a tide you can see; even the solid ground rises and falls a few centimetres each day.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «show» (+4); the same thing acted on «tide» (+4); the same doer «lake» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗
oi, the tide's coming in round the sandbank, let's just wade back, it's shallow. good idea?
- 1. Yes, if you run — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Yes, shallow water is always safe — no support
- 3. No, on flat beaches it comes in fast; call the coastguard if cut off — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Yes, tides always stop at your knees — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗
What would happen to the calendar if there were no leap years?
- 1. Every year would be a day shorter, and summer would vanish — ← Mova's choice · score 3
- 2. The Moon would change its shape — no support
- 3. Nothing at all would change — no support
- 4. The seasons would slowly drift through the months — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 40, line 17: «A year is the time the Earth takes to go round the Sun, about 365 and a quarter days, so every fourth year has an extra day, 29 February, to keep the seasons i…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «fourth year» (+2); the same property (+1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗
Today the high tide was at 9 in the morning. About when will it be tomorrow?
- 1. About two hours earlier — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. At exactly the same time — no support
- 3. At midnight, when tides peak — no support
- 4. About 50 minutes later — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓
Why might a fisherman want to know when the full Moon is?
- 1. Boats float higher and better at full Moon — no support
- 2. Fish only ever bite when the Moon is full — score 3
- 3. Tides are biggest at full and new Moon — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. The full Moon warms up the sea for the fish — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 40, line 14: «When the Sun and Moon pull in line, at full and new Moon, tides are biggest; these are called spring tides, though they have nothing to do with spring.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «tides» (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★★ · right ✓
What would happen to seasons if the Earth were not tilted at all?
- 1. There would be no real summer and winter — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Winter would last all year long everywhere — no support
- 3. Summer would last all year long everywhere — no support
- 4. The seasons would be twice as strong as now — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★★ · right ✓
Someone in Norway says she had sunshine at midnight in June. Could that be true?
- 1. Yes, near the North Pole the Sun does not set in midsummer — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Yes, but only on a cloudy day — no support
- 3. No, the Sun always sets at night — no support
- 4. No, it was the Moon shining — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗
Why does midday sunshine feel weaker in winter than in summer?
- 1. The cold air blocks sunlight — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The Sun gives out less heat in winter — no support
- 3. The Earth is further from the Sun in winter, so it is weaker — no support
- 4. The Sun is lower, so its light is spread thinner — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the principal cause of the seasons upon the Earth.
- 1. The inclination of the Earth's axis — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The interposition of clouds during the winter months — no support
- 3. The variation in the heat emitted by the Sun — no support
- 4. The variation in the distance between the Earth and the Sun — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the reason for which two high tides occur at a given location within a single day.
- 1. Rivers discharge into the sea on two occasions each day — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The Moon raises bulges of water on both the near and the far side of the Earth — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. The winds reverse their direction twice daily — no support
- 4. The Moon completes two revolutions about the Earth each day — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises spring tides?
- 1. Tides originating from springs of fresh water — no support
- 2. Tides occurring exclusively during the spring months, when the snows melt — score 7
- 3. Tides of the greatest range, occurring when the Sun and Moon act in line — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
- 4. Tides of the least range, occurring at half Moon — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 40, line 12: «The Moon's gravity pulls the oceans into a bulge on the near side and another on the far side, and each place passes through both as the Earth spins, giving tw…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same doer «earth» (+4). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the institution of leap years.
- 1. An additional day is inserted because the Earth accelerates periodically — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. An additional day is inserted every fourth year to account for the excess quarter day — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. An additional day is inserted solely by custom and for no astronomical reason — no support
- 4. An additional day is inserted to accommodate the Moon's orbit — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/physics/40-seasons-and-tides/