---
title: Why can a tiny fleck of paint damage a spacecraft? — Satellites and GPS · tree and pragmatics
description: Why can a tiny fleck of paint damage a spacecraft? Test 10 · ★★ of lesson 38 «Satellites and GPS» of the technology 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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# Test 10 · ★★ · Satellites and GPS

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why can a tiny fleck of paint damage a spacecraft?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** tiny fleck · **What happens:** damage · **To what, where:** spacecraft

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This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 38 «Satellites and GPS» of the technology 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/technology/38-satellites-and-gps/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:38-satellites-and-gps:t10:1
# text = Why can a tiny fleck of paint damage a spacecraft?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	fleck	fleck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	paint	paint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	damage	damage	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	spacecraft	spacecraft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **damage** | can | a tiny fleck of paint | a spacecraft |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spacecraft=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Space paint is made of metal

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:38-satellites-and-gps:t10:o1:1
# text = Space paint is made of metal
1	Space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	paint	paint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | Space paint |  |  |  | of metal | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In orbit it moves extremely fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:38-satellites-and-gps:t10:o2:1
# text = In orbit it moves extremely fast
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	orbit	orbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	moves	move	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	extremely	extremely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | present | orbit |  |  | orbit |  | extremely, fast *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme in orbit=Trajectory |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It explodes when it touches glass

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:38-satellites-and-gps:t10:o3:1
# text = It explodes when it touches glass
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	explodes	explode	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	touches	touch	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
6	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explode** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **touch** | present | it | glass |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme glass=Co-Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is red-hot from the Sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:technology:38-satellites-and-gps:t10:o4:1
# text = It is red-hot from the Sun
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  | the Sun |  | hot *property* | 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.

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- ← previous: [Satellites and GPS, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/38-satellites-and-gps/t9/)
- next →: [Satellites and GPS, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/technology/38-satellites-and-gps/t11/)
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