---
title: Why does midday sunshine feel weaker in winter than in summer? — Seasons and tides · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does midday sunshine feel weaker in winter than in summer? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 40 «Seasons and tides» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/40-seasons-and-tides/t11/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Physics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/) / [Seasons and tides](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/40-seasons-and-tides/) / t11

# Test 11 · ★★ · Seasons and tides

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does midday sunshine feel weaker in winter than in summer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** midday sunshine · **What happens:** feel

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 40 «Seasons and tides» 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/40-seasons-and-tides/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t11:1
# text = Why does midday sunshine feel weaker in winter than in summer?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	midday	midday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	sunshine	sunshine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	weaker	weak	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	xcomp	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	summer	summer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | present · do-support | midday sunshine |  |  |  | summer; winter | weak *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
The cold air blocks sunlight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t11:o1:1
# text = The cold air blocks sunlight
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	blocks	block	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **block** | present | the cold air | sunlight |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer sunlight=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Sun gives out less heat in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t11:o2:1
# text = The Sun gives out less heat in winter
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	gives	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give out** | present | the Sun | less heat |  |  | winter |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent heat=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Earth is further from the Sun in winter, so it is weaker

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t11:o3:1
# text = The Earth is further from the Sun in winter, so it is weaker
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	further	further	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	weaker	weak	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the Earth |  |  | the Sun | winter | further *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | Earth |  |  |  |  | weak *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Sun is lower, so its light is spread thinner

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t11:o4:1
# text = The Sun is lower, so its light is spread thinner
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	lower	low	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
11	thinner	thin	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the Sun |  |  |  |  | low *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **spread** | present · passive |  | Sun's light |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **be** |  | the Sun *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **light** |  | Sun |  |  |  |  |  | nom light «phenomenon transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Seasons and tides, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/40-seasons-and-tides/t10/)
- next →: [Seasons and tides, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/40-seasons-and-tides/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Seasons and tides](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/40-seasons-and-tides/)