---
title: Identify the principal factor which determines the lifespan of a star. — How stars live · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal factor which determines the lifespan of a star. Exam question 1 of lesson 18 «How stars live» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/18-how-stars-live/e1/)

<!-- 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/) / [How stars live](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/18-how-stars-live/) / e1

# Exam question 1 · How stars live

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal factor which determines the lifespan of a star.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, principal factor · **What happens:** identify, determine · **To what, where:** principal factor, lifespan

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 18 «How stars live» of the space course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/18-how-stars-live/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:18-how-stars-live:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal factor which determines the lifespan of a star.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	factor	factor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	determines	determine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	lifespan	lifespan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal factor |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent factor=Theme |
| 2 | **determine** | present | the principal factor | the lifespan of a star |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lifespan=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Its colour alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:18-how-stars-live:e1:o1:1
# text = Its colour alone
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The number of its planets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:18-how-stars-live:e1:o2:1
# text = The number of its planets
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	planets	planet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its distance from the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:18-how-stars-live:e1:o3:1
# text = Its distance from the Earth
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its mass

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:18-how-stars-live:e1:o4:1
# text = Its mass
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mass	mass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .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: [How stars live, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/18-how-stars-live/t11/)
- next →: [How stars live, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/18-how-stars-live/e2/)
- ↑ back to [How stars live](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/18-how-stars-live/)