---
title: State the principal reason for which the night-side temperature of M… — Mercury · tree and pragmatics
description: State the principal reason for which the night-side temperature of Mercury falls to approximately minus one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius. Exam question 2 of lesson 3 «Mercury» of the space course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each opti
---

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# Exam question 2 · Mercury

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the principal reason for which the night-side temperature of Mercury falls to approximately minus one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** side temperature · **What happens:** fall · **To what, where:** hundred degrees

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 3 «Mercury» 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/3-mercury/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e2:1
# text = State the principal reason for which the night-side temperature of Mercury falls to approximately minus one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius.
1	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
8	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	temperature	temperature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	falls	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
16	approximately	approximately	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
17	minus	minus	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	compound	_	_
19	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	eighty	eighty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	conj	_	_
22	degrees	degree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
23	Celsius	Celsius	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | present | the side temperature of Mercury | hundred degrees  Celsius |  |  |  | for the principal reason | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for which=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Its great distance from the Sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e2:o1:1
# text = Its great distance from the Sun
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The presence of extensive polar oceans

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e2:o2:1
# text = The presence of extensive polar oceans
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	extensive	extensive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	polar	polar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	oceans	ocean	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The near absence of an atmosphere capable of retaining heat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e2:o3:1
# text = The near absence of an atmosphere capable of retaining heat
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	near	near	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	absence	absence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	capable	capable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	retaining	retain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
10	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retain** | gerund |  | heat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **absent** |  |  | a atmosphere |  |  |  |  | nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The shielding effect of its numerous moons

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e2:o4:1
# text = The shielding effect of its numerous moons
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	shielding	shield	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	amod	_	_
3	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	numerous	numerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	moons	moon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shield** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **effect** |  |  | effect's numerous moons |  |  |  |  | nom effect «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

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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: [Mercury, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/e1/)
- next →: [Mercury, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Mercury](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/)