---
title: If the Earth did not cross a comet's dust trail in August, what woul… — Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud… · tree and pragmatics
description: If the Earth did not cross a comet's dust trail in August, what would happen to the Perseids? Test 6 · ★★ 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 
---

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# Test 6 · ★★ · Pluto, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and comets

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If the Earth did not cross a comet's dust trail in August, what would happen to the Perseids?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Earth · **What happens:** not cross, happen · **To what, where:** dust trail

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★★ 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t6:1
# text = If the Earth did not cross a comet's dust trail in August, what would happen to the Perseids?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	comet	comet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	trail	trail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	August	August	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	nsubj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Perseids	perseid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **cross** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · do-support | the Earth | a comet's dust trail |  |  | august |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trail=Patient |
| 2 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to the Perseids | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would happen in winter instead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t6:o1:1
# text = They would happen in winter instead
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would | They |  |  |  | winter | instead *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We would not see that shower

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t6:o2:1
# text = We would not see that shower
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	shower	shower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | would | We | that shower |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shower=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would be brighter than ever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t6:o3:1
# text = They would be brighter than ever
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	brighter	bright	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The comet would fall onto the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:15-pluto-the-kuiper-belt-the-oort-cloud-and-comets:t6:o4:1
# text = The comet would fall onto the Earth
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	comet	comet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	onto	onto	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | would | the comet |  |  | the Earth |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme onto earth=Initial\_Location |

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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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