---
title: State the principal reason for which eclipses do not occur in every… — Phases, eclipses and tides · tree and pragmatics
description: State the principal reason for which eclipses do not occur in every lunar month. Exam question 3 of lesson 7 «Phases, eclipses and tides» 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 3 · Phases, eclipses and tides

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the principal reason for which eclipses do not occur in every lunar month.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** eclipses · **What happens:** not occur

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 7 «Phases, eclipses and tides» 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/7-phases-eclipses-and-tides/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:7-phases-eclipses-and-tides:e3:1
# text = State the principal reason for which eclipses do not occur in every lunar month.
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	10	obl	_	_
7	eclipses	eclipse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
8	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	occur	occur	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
13	lunar	lunar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **occur** | present · do-support | eclipses |  |  |  | month | for the State principal reason | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
The Sun moves out of alignment each week

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:7-phases-eclipses-and-tides:e3:o1:1
# text = The Sun moves out of alignment each week
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	moves	move	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	alignment	alignment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move out** | present | the Sun | alignment |  |  | week |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent alignment=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Moon is of insufficient size in most months

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:7-phases-eclipses-and-tides:e3:o2:1
# text = The Moon is of insufficient size in most months
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	insufficient	insufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	amod	_	_
9	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the Moon |  |  |  | month | of insufficient size | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The orbit of the Moon is inclined by some five degrees to that of the Earth

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:7-phases-eclipses-and-tides:e3:o3:1
# text = The orbit of the Moon is inclined by some five degrees to that of the Earth
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	orbit	orbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	inclined	incline	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
10	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	degrees	degree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **incline** | present · passive | some five degrees to that | the orbit of the Moon |  |  |  |  | vn addict-96 «NP V NP PP.Theme»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Earth rotates too rapidly for alignment

```conllu
# sent_id = question:space:7-phases-eclipses-and-tides:e3:o4:1
# text = The Earth rotates too rapidly for alignment
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	rotates	rotate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	rapidly	rapidly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	alignment	alignment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rotate** | present | the Earth |  |  |  |  | for alignment; rapidly *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Phases, eclipses and tides, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/7-phases-eclipses-and-tides/e2/)
- next →: [Phases, eclipses and tides, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/7-phases-eclipses-and-tides/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Phases, eclipses and tides](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/7-phases-eclipses-and-tides/)