---
title: Why could people in Britain not see the 1987 supernova with their ow… — How stars die · tree and pragmatics
description: Why could people in Britain not see the 1987 supernova with their own eyes? Test 9 · ★★★ 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 9 · ★★★ · How stars die

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why could people in Britain not see the 1987 supernova with their own eyes?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** people · **What happens:** not see · **To what, where:** 1987 supernova

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t9:1
# text = Why could people in Britain not see the 1987 supernova with their own eyes?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	1987	1987	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	supernova	supernova	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | could | people in Britain | the 1987 supernova |  |  |  | with people's own eyes | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer supernova=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It happened only in the daytime

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t9:o1:1
# text = It happened only in the daytime
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	daytime	daytime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | It |  |  | the daytime |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in daytime=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was in the Large Magellanic Cloud, seen from the southern hemisphere

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t9:o2:1
# text = It was in the Large Magellanic Cloud, seen from the southern hemisphere
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	Large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	Magellanic	Magellanic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	Cloud	Cloud	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	southern	southern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	hemisphere	hemisphere	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  | the Large Magellanic Cloud |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | participle |  | the Large Magellanic Cloud *not said here* |  | the southern hemisphere |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was hidden behind Jupiter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t9:o3:1
# text = It was hidden behind Jupiter
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Jupiter	Jupiter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | past · passive |  | It |  | Jupiter |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Patient behind jupiter=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was too faint for anyone's eyes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:19-how-stars-die:t9:o4:1
# text = It was too faint for anyone's eyes
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  |  |  | for anyone's eyes; faint *property* | 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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