---
title: Which shows that white light is a mixture of colours? — Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky · tree and pragmatics
description: Which shows that white light is a mixture of colours? Test 9 · ★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which shows that white light is a mixture of colours?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** white light · **What happens:** show, be · **To what, where:** mixture · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t9:1
# text = Which shows that white light is a mixture of colours?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	2	nsubj	_	_
2	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
4	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mixture	mixture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | that white light | a mixture |  |  |  | of colours | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A lamp switched off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t9:o1:1
# text = A lamp switched off
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lamp	lamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	switched	switch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **switch off** | participle | a lamp |  |  |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A shadow on the wall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t9:o2:1
# text = A shadow on the wall
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A mirror showing your face

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t9:o3:1
# text = A mirror showing your face
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	showing	show	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | gerund | a mirror *not said here* | your face |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent face=Recipient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A prism spreading sunlight into a band of colours

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky:t9:o4:1
# text = A prism spreading sunlight into a band of colours
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prism	prism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	spreading	spread	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	band	band	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | gerund | a prism *not said here* | sunlight |  | a band of colours |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent sunlight=Theme into band=Destination |

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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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- ← previous: [Mirrors, rainbows and the blue sky, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/21-mirrors-rainbows-and-the-blue-sky/t8/)
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