---
title: Why does Mercury get so cold at night when it is so close to the Sun? — Mercury · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does Mercury get so cold at night when it is so close to the Sun? Test 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 option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 2 · Mercury

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does Mercury get so cold at night when it is so close to the Sun?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Mercury, it · **What happens:** get, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 of lesson 3 «Mercury» 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/3-mercury/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t2:1
# text = Why does Mercury get so cold at night when it is so close to the Sun?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	13	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | present · do-support | Mercury |  |  |  | night | cold *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | to the Sun; close *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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its iron core sucks the heat away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t2:o1:1
# text = Its iron core sucks the heat away
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	core	core	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sucks	suck	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suck away** | present | Its iron core | the heat |  |  |  | away *property* | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent heat=Source |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has almost no air to hold the heat in

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t2:o2:1
# text = It has almost no air to hold the heat in
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | It | no air |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent air=Patient |
| 2 | **hold in** | to-infinitive |  | the heat |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heat=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its ice caps cool the whole planet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t2:o3:1
# text = Its ice caps cool the whole planet
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	caps	cap	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	cool	cool	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	planet	planet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cool** | present | Its ice caps | the whole planet |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent planet=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its night side faces away from the Sun forever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t2:o4:1
# text = Its night side faces away from the Sun forever
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	faces	face	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **face away** | present | Its night side |  |  | the Sun |  | away, forever *property* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |

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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: [Mercury, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/t1/)
- next →: [Mercury, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/t3/)
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