---
title: Shine a torch straight down and then at a slant. What does it show a… — Seasons and tides · tree and pragmatics
description: Shine a torch straight down and then at a slant. What does it show about winter sunshine? Test 2 · ★★ 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 right.
---

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# Test 2 · ★★ · Seasons and tides

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Shine a torch straight down and then at a slant. What does it show about winter sunshine?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, torch · **What happens:** shine, show · **To what, where:** torch, slant

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★★ 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/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Shine a torch straight down and then at a slant.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t2:1
# text = Shine a torch straight down and then at a slant.
1	Shine	shine	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	torch	torch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	conj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	slant	slant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shine** | imperative | you *not said here* | a torch |  | a slant |  | down *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent torch=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:* What does it show about winter sunshine?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t2:2
# text = What does it show about winter sunshine?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	sunshine	sunshine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present · do-support | torch |  |  |  |  | about winter sunshine | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent what=Recipient about sunshine=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Light only shines straight down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t2:o1:1
# text = Light only shines straight down
1	Light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	shines	shine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shine** | present | Light |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The torch gets dimmer when tilted

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t2:o2:1
# text = The torch gets dimmer when tilted
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	torch	torch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	gets	get	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	dimmer	dim	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
6	tilted	tilt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | present | the torch |  |  |  |  | dim *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **tilt** | participle | the torch *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Slanted light is hotter than straight light, so winters are warm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t2:o3:1
# text = Slanted light is hotter than straight light, so winters are warm
1	Slanted	slanted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	hotter	hot	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	straight	straight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	winters	winter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Slanted light |  |  |  |  | than straight light; hot *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | winters |  |  |  |  | warm *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Slanted light spreads over a bigger patch and warms less

```conllu
# sent_id = question:physics:40-seasons-and-tides:t2:o4:1
# text = Slanted light spreads over a bigger patch and warms less
1	Slanted	slanted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	spreads	spread	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	over	over	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	patch	patch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	warms	warm	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | present | Slanted light |  |  | a bigger patch |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over patch=Location |
| 2 | **warm** | present | Slanted light *not said here* |  |  |  |  | less *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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: [Seasons and tides, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/40-seasons-and-tides/t1/)
- next →: [Seasons and tides, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/40-seasons-and-tides/t3/)
- ↑ back to [Seasons and tides](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/physics/40-seasons-and-tides/)