---
title: A seismograph 500 km away records two jolts a minute apart. Why two? — Earthquakes · tree and pragmatics
description: A seismograph 500 km away records two jolts a minute apart. Why two? Test 3 of lesson 44 «Earthquakes» of the geography course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 3 · Earthquakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A seismograph 500 km away records two jolts a minute apart. Why two?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** seismograph km · **What happens:** record · **To what, where:** two jolts

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 of lesson 44 «Earthquakes» of the geography 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/44-earthquakes/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A seismograph 500 km away records two jolts a minute apart.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:44-earthquakes:t3:1
# text = A seismograph 500 km away records two jolts a minute apart.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	seismograph	seismograph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
3	500	500	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	2	flat	_	_
4	km	km	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	records	record	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	jolts	jolt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:unmarked	_	_
11	apart	apart	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **record** | present | a seismograph km | two jolts  a minute |  |  |  | apart, away *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent jolt=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why two?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:44-earthquakes:t3:2
# text = Why two?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fast P waves arrive before the slower S waves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:44-earthquakes:t3:o1:1
# text = The fast P waves arrive before the slower S waves
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	fast	fast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	P	p	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	arrive	arrive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	before	before	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	slower	slow	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	amod	_	_
9	S	s	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | present | the fast P waves |  |  |  | before the slower S waves |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two earthquakes happened at exactly that same moment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:44-earthquakes:t3:o2:1
# text = Two earthquakes happened at exactly that same moment
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	earthquakes	earthquake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
7	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | Two earthquakes |  |  |  | moment |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The machine is broken and counts every quake twice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:44-earthquakes:t3:o3:1
# text = The machine is broken and counts every quake twice
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	machine	machine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	counts	count	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	quake	quake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | present · passive |  | the machine |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **count** | present |  | every quake |  |  |  | twice *property* | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quake=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The second jolt is an echo from the Moon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:44-earthquakes:t3:o4:1
# text = The second jolt is an echo from the Moon
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	jolt	jolt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	echo	echo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the second jolt | a echo |  | the Moon |  |  | tree rules |

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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: [Earthquakes, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t2/)
- next →: [Earthquakes, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t4/)
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