---
title: A white dwarf weighs about half as much as the Sun but is only as bi… — How stars die · tree and pragmatics
description: A white dwarf weighs about half as much as the Sun but is only as big as the Earth. What follows? Test 12 · ★★★ of lesson 19 «How stars die» 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 12 · ★★★ · How stars die

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A white dwarf weighs about half as much as the Sun but is only as big as the Earth. What follows?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** white dwarf · **What happens:** weigh, be, follow

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★★★ of lesson 19 «How stars die» 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/19-how-stars-die/#t12).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A white dwarf weighs about half as much as the Sun but is only as big as the Earth.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t12:1
# text = A white dwarf weighs about half as much as the Sun but is only as big as the Earth.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	weighs	weigh	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	half	half	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	8	advmod	_	_
7	as	as	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
9	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
14	only	only	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	as	as	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
17	as	as	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **weigh** | present | a white dwarf |  |  |  |  |  | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | a white dwarf *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as the Earth; big *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 follows?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t12:2
# text = What follows?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	follows	follow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It must be cold and made of ice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t12:o1:1
# text = It must be cold and made of ice
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | must | It |  |  |  |  | cold *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | of ice | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It must be hollow inside

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t12:o2:1
# text = It must be hollow inside
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	hollow	hollow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | must | It |  |  |  |  | hollow, inside *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its matter is packed incredibly tightly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t12:o3:1
# text = Its matter is packed incredibly tightly
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	packed	pack	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	incredibly	incredibly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	tightly	tightly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pack** | present · passive |  | Its matter |  |  |  | incredibly, tightly *property* | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: subject=Destination |
| 2 | **matter** |  | Its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom matter «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is made of light gas like a balloon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t12:o4:1
# text = It is made of light gas like a balloon
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	gas	gas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	like	like	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	balloon	balloon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  | of light gas; like a balloon | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

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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: [How stars die, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/19-how-stars-die/t11/)
- next →: [How stars die, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/19-how-stars-die/e1/)
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