---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the… — How we know: measuring the sky · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the method of stellar parallax? Exam question 1 of lesson 28 «How we know: measuring the sky» 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 wr
---

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# Exam question 1 · How we know: measuring the sky

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the method of stellar parallax?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** follow, characteris · **To what, where:** method

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This is exam question 1 of lesson 28 «How we know: measuring the sky» 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/28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:e1:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the method of stellar parallax?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	method	method	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	stellar	stellar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	parallax	parallax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | the method of stellar parallax |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pulsation of certain variable stars

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:e1:o1:1
# text = The pulsation of certain variable stars
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pulsation	pulsation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	variable	variable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pulsate** |  |  | certain variable stars |  |  |  |  | nom pulsation «event transitive»: of=patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The apparent shift of a nearby star as the Earth orbits the Sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:e1:o2:1
# text = The apparent shift of a nearby star as the Earth orbits the Sun
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	apparent	apparent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	shift	shift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	nearby	nearby	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	orbits	orbit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **orbit** | present | the apparent shift of a nearby star as the Earth | the Sun |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **shift** |  |  | a nearby star as the Earth |  |  |  |  | nom shift «event transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The stretching of light from galaxies which are receding from the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:e1:o3:1
# text = The stretching of light from galaxies which are receding from the Earth
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stretching	stretching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	galaxies	galaxy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	receding	recede	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	acl:relcl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recede** | present · progressive | the stretching of light from galaxies |  |  | the Earth |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from earth=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **stretch** |  |  | light from galaxies |  |  |  |  | nom stretching «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The variation in colour of a star with its temperature

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:e1:o4:1
# text = The variation in colour of a star with its temperature
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	variation	variation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	temperature	temperature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vary** |  | a star with star's temperature |  |  | colour |  |  | nom variation «event intransitive»: in=place of=agent |

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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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- ← previous: [How we know: measuring the sky, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky/t11/)
- next →: [How we know: measuring the sky, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky/e2/)
- ↑ back to [How we know: measuring the sky](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky/)