---
title: A comet is racing away from the Sun. Which way does its tail point? — Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud… · tree and pragmatics
description: A comet is racing away from the Sun. Which way does its tail point? Test 1 · ★★ of lesson 15 «Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and comets» 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 right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets/t1/)

<!-- 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/) / [Space](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/) / [Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets/) / t1

# Test 1 · ★★ · Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and comets

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A comet is racing away from the Sun. Which way does its tail point?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** comet, way · **What happens:** race away, do, point · **To what, where:** tail point

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★★ of lesson 15 «Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and comets» 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/15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t1:1
# text = A comet is racing away from the Sun. Which way does its tail point?
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	comet	comet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	racing	race	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Sun.	Sunday	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
9	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	10	det	_	_
10	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **race away** | present · progressive | a comet |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | present | which way | way's tail point |  |  | sunday |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent point=Eventuality |
| 3 | **point** |  | way |  |  |  |  |  | nom point «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ahead of it, still away from the Sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t1:o1:1
# text = Ahead of it, still away from the Sun
1	Ahead	ahead	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	still	still	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	1	conj	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Down towards the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t1:o2:1
# text = Down towards the Earth
1	Down	down	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
2	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Behind it, back towards the Sun it left

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t1:o3:1
# text = Behind it, back towards the Sun it left
1	Behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	back	back	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
5	towards	towards	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	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | past | Sun |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Straight up, whatever the direction

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t1:o4:1
# text = Straight up, whatever the direction
1	Straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	up	up	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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: [Uranus and Neptune, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/14-uranus-and-neptune/e4/)
- next →: [Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets/t2/)
- ↑ back to [Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and comets](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets/)