The Moon's month and the year round the Sun

Tests: 4 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 10 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 119 of the world 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 · ★ · wrong ✗

Ruby: "Moon's gone, it's hiding, innit." What's really happening?

1. The Earth's shadow is covering the whole Moon — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The Moon has gone behind the Sun for good — no support
3. It's new moon: the lit side faces away from us — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The Moon has left for the other side of the Earth for a month — 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 2 · ★ · right ✓

Sam's teacher asks how long the Earth takes to go round the Sun. Sam: "A day, easy." His mate whispers, "Nah, you muppet." What's right?

1. About one month, like the Moon — no support
2. One day, so Sam is right — no support
3. About 365 and a quarter days; a day is one spin — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
4. About 29 and a half days, the same as one Moon month — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 119, line 6: «A day is one spin of the Earth; a year is one trip of the Earth round the Sun, about 365 and a quarter days.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «day» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗

Grandad says "Happy trip round the Sun!" on Noah's 10th birthday. Why?

1. The Sun goes round Noah on his birthday — no support
2. Each birthday marks one more full orbit of the Sun — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Noah went to space on a school trip — no support
4. Birthdays are the days when the Moon goes once round the Sun — ← Mova's choice · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 112, line 1: «The Earth takes about 365 days and 6 hours to go once round the Sun, but a calendar can only count whole days. So every year the calendar falls about 6 hours b…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+3); the same place «sun» (+1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

Holly's cousin from Boston: "We had a blue moon, it was wicked cool!" ("Wicked" means very, in New England.) What did she really see?

1. A full moon that was bright blue — score 6
2. A Moon with a blue ring of rain round it — score 9
3. A new moon in the middle of summer — ← Mova's choice · score 10
4. An extra full moon that looked its normal colour — ✓ the right answer · score 8

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 10, against 9 for the next best. Its support: lesson 117, line 11: «An Islamic month begins when the thin new crescent moon is seen, or by calculation, so Eid (the festival at the end of Ramadan) can fall a day apart in differe…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «see» (+6); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same thing acted on «thin new crescent moon» (+1); the same property (+1). The right option, 4, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

Ben's mum: "Supermoon tonight, it's gonna be massive!" Ben looks: "Mid." ("Mid" means nothing special.) Why?

1. Clouds always cover a supermoon, so you never see it — no support
2. Supermoons are actually smaller than normal full moons — ← Mova's choice · score 4
3. Supermoons only look big from space, not from the ground — score 4
4. It's only a little bigger, which is hard to notice — ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 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 119, line 10: «At new moon the lit side of the Moon faces away from us, so we see almost nothing for about a night.», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4). The right option, 4, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗

Liam sees the Moon rise at 7 pm on Monday. About when will it rise on Tuesday?

1. About 7 pm — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. About 7 am — no support
3. About 7:50 pm — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. About 6:10 pm — 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 7 · ★ · right ✓

Erin: "Moon's out at lunchtime, isn't that the night shift?" What's true?

1. The Moon only comes out at night, so it must be a cloud — score 3
2. It's a different, smaller moon that comes out by day — score 2
3. The Moon is up about 12 hours a day, and those hours move round the clock — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. The Moon and the Sun swap places at noon — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 119, line 18: «The Moon spins once in the same time it goes round the Earth, about 27 days, so the same side always faces us.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same property (+3); the same doer «moon» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★ · right ✓

What would happen to a calendar made only of 12 Moon months, after 3 years?

1. Its New Year would come about 33 days earlier in the seasons — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
2. Its New Year would come about 3 days later — score 2
3. It would fall a whole year behind — score 2
4. Its New Year would land on exactly the same day as in the first year — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 2, tied with another option at 2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 116, line 10: «Caesar's Julian calendar, from 45 BC, had 365 days and a leap day every 4 years, so its average year was 365 days and 6 hours.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «average year» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

Aria's big brother, "our kid" as they say in Manchester, reckons the Moon doesn't spin at all. Is he right?

1. Yes, and the far side is always in the dark — score 4
2. No, it spins once a day like the Earth, so over a day we get to see all of it — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. No, it spins once for each trip round us, so one face stays towards us — ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. Yes, it never spins, so we always see one side — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 119, line 5: «The Moon spins once in the same time it takes to go round the Earth, so the same face always looks at us, like a dancer turning to keep facing a partner. We ne…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «spin» (+4); the same property (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗

In a cartoon, a wolf howls at a full moon every night of the month. What's wrong?

1. Nothing, the Moon is full every night — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. A full moon comes only about once every 29 and a half days — ✓ the right answer · score 1
3. The wolf's howling makes the Moon full — no support
4. The Moon is full only once a year — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 3, line 13: «A waxing moon grows bigger each night, and a waning moon grows smaller.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same property (+3); the same doer «waxing moon» (+1). The right option, 2, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★ · right ✓

Grace's teacher: "Farmers long ago counted moons." Why the Moon, not the Sun?

1. Its changing shape is easy to see and count — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
2. The Sun did not rise every day in those days — no support
3. The Moon tells you the exact hour of the day — no support
4. The Moon decides when the crops grow and ripen — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 119, line 19: «People long ago counted months by the Moon for farming and festivals, because its changing shape is easy to see and count; the word "month" comes from "moon".», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: its «because» matches the remembered cause (+3); the same doer «changing shape» (+2); the same property (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the principal cause of the phases of the Moon.

1. The varying portion of its sunlit half visible from the Earth — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. The partial obscuring of the Moon by clouds — no support
3. The shadow cast upon it by the Earth each night — no support
4. The varying quantity of light produced within the Moon — 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 ✗

Given that a full moon is observed upon the third of March, determine the approximate date of the succeeding full moon.

1. The third of March of the following year — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The first or second of April — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The third of May — no support
4. The tenth of March — 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 · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the interval designated "a year".

1. Twelve revolutions of the Moon, amounting to exactly 365 days — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. One revolution of the Earth about the Sun, approximately 365 and a quarter days — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The interval between two successive full moons — no support
4. One rotation of the Earth upon its axis — 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

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the circumstance whereby the same face of the Moon is perpetually presented to the Earth?

1. The Moon rotates once in the period of one revolution about the Earth — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
2. The far side of the Moon is perpetually unlit — no support
3. The Earth perpetually obstructs all observation of the Moon's far side — no support
4. The Moon does not rotate at all — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 10, line 1: «The Moon turns around its own axis exactly once while it goes around the Earth once, so it always keeps the same face towards us: walk around a chair while alw…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «moon» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/world/119-moon-month-and-year/