---
title: If Earth went round the Sun faster at the same distance, what would… — How we know: measuring the sky · tree and pragmatics
description: If Earth went round the Sun faster at the same distance, what would that tell us about the Sun? Test 9 · ★★★ 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 wrong
---

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# Test 9 · ★★★ · How we know: measuring the sky

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If Earth went round the Sun faster at the same distance, what would that tell us about the Sun?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Earth · **What happens:** go, tell · **To what, where:** Sun, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 28 «How we know: measuring the sky» 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/28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:t9:1
# text = If Earth went round the Sun faster at the same distance, what would that tell us about the Sun?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	round	round	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	appos	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	about	about	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Earth |  |  | the Sun |  | fast *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme round sun=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | would |  |  | us |  |  | about the Sun | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent we=Recipient about sun=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be lighter than we think

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:t9:o1:1
# text = It would be lighter than we think
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | It |  |  |  |  | light *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be colder

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:t9:o2:1
# text = It would be colder
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	colder	cold	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:t9:o3:1
# text = Nothing at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be heavier than we think

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:28-how-we-know-measuring-the-sky:t9:o4:1
# text = It would be heavier than we think
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | It |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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