---
title: Which old discovery was first used by sailors nearly a thousand year… — Compasses and the magnetic Earth · tree and pragmatics
description: Which old discovery was first used by sailors nearly a thousand years ago? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 30 «Compasses and the magnetic Earth» 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 11 · ★ · Compasses and the magnetic Earth

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which old discovery was first used by sailors nearly a thousand years ago?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** sailors · **What happens:** use · **To what, where:** old discovery

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This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 30 «Compasses and the magnetic Earth» 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/30-compasses-and-the-magnetic-earth/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:30-compasses-and-the-magnetic-earth:t11:1
# text = Which old discovery was first used by sailors nearly a thousand years ago?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	discovery	discovery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	advmod	_	_
6	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
9	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past · passive | sailors | old discovery |  |  |  | ago, first *property* | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The radio weather forecast read out for ships at sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:30-compasses-and-the-magnetic-earth:t11:o1:1
# text = The radio weather forecast read out for ships at sea
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	radio	radio	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
3	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	forecast	forecast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	read	read	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read out** | participle |  | the radio weather forecast *not said here* |  | sea |  | for ships | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP PP.value»: agent=Agent at sea=Value |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Satellite navigation worked out on a mobile phone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:30-compasses-and-the-magnetic-earth:t11:o2:1
# text = Satellite navigation worked out on a mobile phone
1	Satellite	Satellite	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	navigation	navigation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	worked	work	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	mobile	mobile	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	phone	phone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work out** | past | Satellite navigation |  |  | a mobile phone |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A battery-powered torch for signalling to other ships

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:30-compasses-and-the-magnetic-earth:t11:o3:1
# text = A battery-powered torch for signalling to other ships
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	battery	battery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	powered	power	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	torch	torch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	signalling	signalling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **power** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A magnetised needle floating to point north

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:30-compasses-and-the-magnetic-earth:t11:o4:1
# text = A magnetised needle floating to point north
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	magnetised	magnetise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	needle	needle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	floating	float	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	point	point	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	north	north	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **magnetise** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **float** | gerund | a magnetised needle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **point** | to-infinitive | a magnetised needle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | north *property* | vn wink-40.3.1 «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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- ← previous: [Compasses and the magnetic Earth, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/30-compasses-and-the-magnetic-earth/t10/)
- next →: [Compasses and the magnetic Earth, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/30-compasses-and-the-magnetic-earth/e1/)
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