---
title: Why do rain clouds look dark grey? — Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do rain clouds look dark grey? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 21 «Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky» of the physics 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 6 · ★ · Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do rain clouds look dark grey?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** rain clouds · **What happens:** look · **To what, where:** dark grey

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 21 «Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky» of the physics 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/physics/21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t6:1
# text = Why do rain clouds look dark grey?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	clouds	cloud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	grey	grey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | present · do-support | rain clouds | dark grey |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme grey=Attribute |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are full of black dust

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t6:o1:1
# text = They are full of black dust
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | of black dust; full *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are colder than white clouds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t6:o2:1
# text = They are colder than white clouds
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	colder	cold	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	clouds	cloud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | than white clouds; cold *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are reflecting the dark ground and the sea under them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t6:o3:1
# text = They are reflecting the dark ground and the sea under them
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	reflecting	reflect	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
10	under	under	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reflect** | present · progressive | They | the dark ground and the sea |  |  |  | under ground | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are so thick that hardly any light gets through

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t6:o4:1
# text = They are so thick that hardly any light gets through
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	gets	get	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
10	through	through	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | thick *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **get through** | present | any light |  |  |  |  | through *property* | vn cope-83-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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.

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