---
title: Tom says he saw Mercury high overhead at midnight. What is wrong? — Mercury · tree and pragmatics
description: Tom says he saw Mercury high overhead at midnight. What is wrong? Test 9 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 9 · Mercury

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tom says he saw Mercury high overhead at midnight. What is wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Tom · **What happens:** say, see, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Tom says he saw Mercury high overhead at midnight.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t9:1
# text = Tom says he saw Mercury high overhead at midnight.
1	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
7	overhead	overhead	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Tom |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **see** | past | Tom |  |  |  | midnight | high, overhead *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t9:2
# text = What is wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, that is the best time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t9:o1:1
# text = Nothing, that is the best time
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | that | the best time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mercury only shows in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t9:o2:1
# text = Mercury only shows in winter
1	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | Mercury |  |  |  | winter |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mercury never strays far from the Sun, so it is seen only low near dawn or dusk

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t9:o3:1
# text = Mercury never strays far from the Sun, so it is seen only low near dawn or dusk
1	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	strays	stray	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
13	only	only	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	low	low	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
15	near	near	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	dusk	dusk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **stray** | present | Mercury |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | present · passive |  | Sun |  |  | dawn | low *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mercury can be seen only with a telescope

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:3-mercury:t9:o4:1
# text = Mercury can be seen only with a telescope
1	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	telescope	telescope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | can · passive |  | Mercury |  |  |  | with a telescope | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |

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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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Mercury, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/t8/)
- next →: [Mercury, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Mercury](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/3-mercury/)