---
title: Identify the principal cause of the alternation of day and night upo… — Day and night · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal cause of the alternation of day and night upon the Earth. Exam question 1 of lesson 1 «Day and night» of the world 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 · Day and night

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal cause of the alternation of day and night upon the Earth.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, day · **What happens:** identify, cause, alternate · **To what, where:** principal cause, alternation

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 1 «Day and night» of the world 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/world/1-day-and-night/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:1-day-and-night:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal cause of the alternation of day and night upon the Earth.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	alternation	alternation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
12	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal cause of the alternation of day and night upon the Earth |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme |
| 2 | **cause** |  |  | the alternation of day and night upon the Earth |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 3 | **alternate** |  | day |  |  |  |  |  | nom alternation «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 interposition of the Moon between Earth and Sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:1-day-and-night:e1:o1:1
# text = The interposition of the Moon between Earth and Sun
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	interposition	interposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
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	between	between	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **interpose** |  |  | the Moon |  |  |  | between Earth and Sun | nom interposition «act transitive»: of=patient between=obl |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The daily revolution of the Sun about the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:1-day-and-night:e1:o2:1
# text = The daily revolution of the Sun about the Earth
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	daily	daily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	revolution	revolution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **revolt** |  | the Sun |  |  |  |  | about the Earth | nom revolution «event intransitive»: of=agent about=obl |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The periodic extinguishing of the Sun's illumination

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:1-day-and-night:e1:o3:1
# text = The periodic extinguishing of the Sun's illumination
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	periodic	periodic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	extinguishing	extinguish	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	illumination	illumination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **extinguish** | gerund |  | the periodic |  |  |  | of the Sun's illumination | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent of illumination=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **illuminate** |  | the Sun |  |  |  |  |  | nom illumination «state transitive»: poss=agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rotation of the Earth upon its own axis

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:1-day-and-night:e1:o4:1
# text = The rotation of the Earth upon its own axis
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rotation	rotation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	axis	axis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rotate** |  | the Earth |  |  |  |  | upon Earth's own axis | nom rotation «act intransitive»: of=agent upon=obl |

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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: [Day and night, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/1-day-and-night/t13/)
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