---
title: Astronomers see a star whizzing in a tight orbit round an empty-look… — Black holes · tree and pragmatics
description: Astronomers see a star whizzing in a tight orbit round an empty-looking spot. What might be there? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 25 «Black holes» 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 3 · ★★ · Black holes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Astronomers see a star whizzing in a tight orbit round an empty-looking spot. What might be there?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Astronomers, star · **What happens:** see, whiz, look, be · **To what, where:** star, tight orbit

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This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 25 «Black holes» 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/25-black-holes/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Astronomers see a star whizzing in a tight orbit round an empty-looking spot.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:25-black-holes:t3:1
# text = Astronomers see a star whizzing in a tight orbit round an empty-looking spot.
1	Astronomers	astronomer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	whizzing	whiz	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	tight	tight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	orbit	orbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	round	round	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
12	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	amod	_	_
15	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | present | Astronomers | a star |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer star=Stimulus |
| 2 | **whiz** | gerund | a star *not said here* |  |  | a tight orbit |  | round a looking spot | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in orbit=Trajectory |
| 3 | **look** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What might be there?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:25-black-holes:t3:2
# text = What might be there?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, stars often circle nothing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:25-black-holes:t3:o1:1
# text = Nothing, stars often circle nothing
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	often	often	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	circle	circle	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **circle** | present | Nothing stars | nothing |  |  |  | often *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme nothing=Co-Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A black hole

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:25-black-holes:t3:o2:1
# text = A black hole
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A gap in the telescope's mirror

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:25-black-holes:t3:o3:1
# text = A gap in the telescope's mirror
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	gap	gap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	telescope	telescope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A planet bigger than the star

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:25-black-holes:t3:o4:1
# text = A planet bigger than the star
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	planet	planet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

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

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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: [Black holes, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/25-black-holes/t2/)
- next →: [Black holes, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/25-black-holes/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Black holes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/25-black-holes/)