---
title: State the principal reason for which the surface temperature of Venu… — Venus · tree and pragmatics
description: State the principal reason for which the surface temperature of Venus exceeds that of Mercury. Exam question 1 of lesson 4 «Venus» 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 1 · Venus

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the principal reason for which the surface temperature of Venus exceeds that of Mercury.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** surface temperature · **What happens:** exceed · **To what, where:** Mercury

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 4 «Venus» 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/4-venus/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:4-venus:e1:1
# text = State the principal reason for which the surface temperature of Venus exceeds that of Mercury.
1	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	temperature	temperature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Venus	Venus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	exceeds	exceed	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **exceed** | present | the surface temperature of Venus | Mercury |  |  |  | for the State principal reason | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot mercury=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is illuminated continuously on all sides

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:4-venus:e1:o1:1
# text = It is illuminated continuously on all sides
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	illuminated	illuminate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	continuously	continuously	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **illuminate** | present · passive |  | It |  | all sides |  | continuously *property* | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is situated considerably nearer the Sun than Mercury

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:4-venus:e1:o2:1
# text = It is situated considerably nearer the Sun than Mercury
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	situated	situate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	considerably	considerably	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **situate** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  | the Sun than Mercury *obl*; near *property* | vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It possesses a hotter metallic core

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:4-venus:e1:o3:1
# text = It possesses a hotter metallic core
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	hotter	hot	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
5	metallic	metallic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	core	core	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | It | a hotter metallic core |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot core=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere retains heat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:4-venus:e1:o4:1
# text = Its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere retains heat
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
2	dense	dense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	carbon	carbon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	dioxide	dioxide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	retains	retain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retain** | present | Its dioxide atmosphere | heat |  |  |  |  | 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Venus, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/4-venus/t11/)
- next →: [Venus, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/4-venus/e2/)
- ↑ back to [Venus](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/4-venus/)