---
title: A comet recedes from the Sun. State the direction in which its tails… — Olympiad: planet puzzles ★★★ · tree and pragmatics
description: A comet recedes from the Sun. State the direction in which its tails point. Exam question 2 of lesson 31 «Olympiad: planet puzzles ★★★» 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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# Exam question 2 · Olympiad: planet puzzles ★★★

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A comet recedes from the Sun. State the direction in which its tails point.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** comet, tails · **What happens:** recede, point · **To what, where:** Sun. State

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 31 «Olympiad: planet puzzles ★★★» 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/31-olympiad-planet-puzzles/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:31-olympiad-planet-puzzles:e2:1
# text = A comet recedes from the Sun. State the direction in which its tails point.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	comet	comet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	recedes	recede	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Sun.	Sunday	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	State	State	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	point	point	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recede** | present | a comet |  |  | the Sun. State |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from state=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **point** | present | comet's tails |  |  |  |  | in the direction | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Away from the Sun, ahead of its motion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:31-olympiad-planet-puzzles:e2:o1:1
# text = Away from the Sun, ahead of its motion
1	Away	away	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
2	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	ahead	ahead	ADV	RB	_	1	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	motion	motion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **motion** |  | Sun |  |  |  |  |  | nom motion «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Towards the Earth, wherever it lies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:31-olympiad-planet-puzzles:e2:o2:1
# text = Towards the Earth, wherever it lies
1	Towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	wherever	wherever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	lies	lie	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | present | Earth |  |  |  |  | wherever *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Across its path, at right angles

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:31-olympiad-planet-puzzles:e2:o3:1
# text = Across its path, at right angles
1	Across	across	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	angles	angle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Towards the Sun, behind its motion

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:31-olympiad-planet-puzzles:e2:o4:1
# text = Towards the Sun, behind its motion
1	Towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	motion	motion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **motion** |  | its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom motion «communication intransitive»: 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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