---
title: Ascertain the circumstances under which Mercury may be observed from… — Mercury · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the circumstances under which Mercury may be observed from the Earth. Exam question 4 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 option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Exam question 4 · Mercury

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the circumstances under which Mercury may be observed from the Earth.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** ascertain, observe · **To what, where:** circumstances, Mercury

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 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/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the circumstances under which Mercury may be observed from the Earth.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	under	under	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
6	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	observed	observe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	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	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the circumstances |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent circumstance=Topic |
| 2 | **observe** | may · passive |  | Mercury |  | the circumstances |  | from the Earth | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At no time, it being invisible from the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e4:o1:1
# text = At no time, it being invisible from the Earth
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
7	invisible	invisible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | gerund | it |  |  | the Earth | time | invisible *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
High in the southern sky at midnight

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e4:o2:1
# text = High in the southern sky at midnight
1	High	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	southern	southern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Low in the sky shortly after sunset or before sunrise

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e4:o3:1
# text = Low in the sky shortly after sunset or before sunrise
1	Low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	shortly	shortly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	after	after	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	sunset	sunset	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	sunrise	sunrise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Solely during a total lunar eclipse, when the sky is darkest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:e4:o4:1
# text = Solely during a total lunar eclipse, when the sky is darkest
1	Solely	solely	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	during	during	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	total	total	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	lunar	lunar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	eclipse	eclipse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	darkest	dark	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the sky |  |  |  |  | dark *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.

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- ← previous: [Mercury, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/e3/)
- next →: [Venus, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/4-venus/t1/)
- ↑ back to [Mercury](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/)