---
title: My granddad says he saw the northern lights from England in 2024. Co… — The Sun, our star · tree and pragmatics
description: My granddad says he saw the northern lights from England in 2024. Could that be true? Test 8 of lesson 1 «The Sun, our star» of the space 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 8 · The Sun, our star

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My granddad says he saw the northern lights from England in 2024. Could that be true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** granddad, that · **What happens:** say, see, be · **To what, where:** northern lights, England · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 1 «The Sun, our star» of the space 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/space/1-the-sun-our-star/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* My granddad says he saw the northern lights from England in 2024.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:1-the-sun-our-star:t8:1
# text = My granddad says he saw the northern lights from England in 2024.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	granddad	granddad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	northern	northern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	lights	light	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	England	England	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	2024	2024	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | My granddad |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **see** | past | granddad | the northern lights |  | England |  | in 2024 | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer light=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Could that be true?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:1-the-sun-our-star:t8:2
# text = Could that be true?
1	Could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
2	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | could | that |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only because it was winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:1-the-sun-our-star:t8:o1:1
# text = Yes, but only because it was winter
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	because	because	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	8	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | because winter | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, aurorae happen only at the North Pole

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:1-the-sun-our-star:t8:o2:1
# text = No, aurorae happen only at the North Pole
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	aurorae	aurorae	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	happen	happen	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	North	North	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	Pole	Pole	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | present | aurorae |  |  | the North Pole |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at pole=Location |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, near solar maximum aurorae were seen much further south than usual

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:1-the-sun-our-star:t8:o3:1
# text = Yes, near solar maximum aurorae were seen much further south than usual
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
3	near	near	ADP	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	solar	solar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	maximum	maximum	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	aurorae	aurorae	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	much	much	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	further	far	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	11	advmod	_	_
11	south	south	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
12	than	than	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past · passive |  | solar maximum aurorae |  |  |  | south *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, aurorae are just a story from films

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:1-the-sun-our-star:t8:o4:1
# text = No, aurorae are just a story from films
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	aurorae	aurorae	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	films	film	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | aurorae | a story |  | films |  |  | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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