---
title: Why is it surprisingly hard to put a spacecraft into orbit around Me… — Mercury · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is it surprisingly hard to put a spacecraft into orbit around Mercury? Test 8 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 8 · Mercury

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is it surprisingly hard to put a spacecraft into orbit around Mercury?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **What happens:** be, put · **To what, where:** spacecraft, orbit

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t8:1
# text = Why is it surprisingly hard to put a spacecraft into orbit around Mercury?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	expl	_	_
4	surprisingly	surprisingly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	spacecraft	spacecraft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	orbit	orbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	around	around	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | hard, surprisingly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **put** | to-infinitive |  | a spacecraft |  | orbit around Mercury |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent spacecraft=Goal |

<!-- .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 -->
Mercury has no gravity at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t8:o1:1
# text = Mercury has no gravity at all
1	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	gravity	gravity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Mercury | no gravity |  | all |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gravity=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The heat melts any craft at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t8:o2:1
# text = The heat melts any craft at once
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	melts	melt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	craft	craft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **melt** | present | the heat | any craft |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient craft=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mercury is hidden behind the Sun forever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t8:o3:1
# text = Mercury is hidden behind the Sun forever
1	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	behind	behind	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	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | present · passive |  | Mercury |  | the Sun |  | forever *property* | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Patient behind sun=Location |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It must brake hard against the Sun's pull, so it uses flybys of planets

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t8:o4:1
# text = It must brake hard against the Sun's pull, so it uses flybys of planets
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	brake	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	against	against	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	pull	pull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	uses	use	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
14	flybys	flyby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	planets	planet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | must | It |  |  | the Sun's pull |  | hard *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme against pull=Location |
| 2 | **use** | present | pull | flybys of planets |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flyby=Patient |
| 3 | **pull** |  | the Sun |  |  |  |  |  | nom pull «act transitive»: poss=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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