---
title: A boy says: «On the Moon I would be lighter because I would be small… — Thinking like an astronomer · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy says: «On the Moon I would be lighter because I would be smaller.» What is wrong? Test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 10 «Thinking like an astronomer» 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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# Test 3 · ★★★ · Thinking like an astronomer

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy says: «On the Moon I would be lighter because I would be smaller.» What is wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** Moon · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 10 «Thinking like an astronomer» of the world 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/world/10-reasoning-about-space/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy says: «On the Moon I would be lighter because I would be smaller.»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:10-reasoning-about-space:t3:1
# text = A boy says: «On the Moon I would be lighter because I would be smaller.»
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	On	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
12	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	ccomp	_	_
13	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
17	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | would | a boy *= boy* |  |  | the Moon |  | light *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | would | a boy *= boy* |  |  |  |  | small *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is wrong?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:10-reasoning-about-space:t3:2
# text = What is wrong?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He would be heavier on the Moon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:10-reasoning-about-space:t3:o1:1
# text = He would be heavier on the Moon
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | He |  |  | the Moon |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He stays the same size; only the pull of gravity is weaker

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:10-reasoning-about-space:t3:o2:1
# text = He stays the same size; only the pull of gravity is weaker
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stays	stay	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pull	pull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	gravity	gravity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	weaker	weak	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | present | He | the same size |  |  |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme size=Location |
| 2 | **is** | present | the pull of gravity |  |  |  |  | weak *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **pull** |  |  | gravity |  |  |  |  | nom pull «act transitive»: of=patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing is wrong; people really do shrink a little on the Moon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:10-reasoning-about-space:t3:o3:1
# text = Nothing is wrong; people really do shrink a little on the Moon
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
6	really	really	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	shrink	shrink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	obj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Nothing |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **shrink** | present · do-support | people | a little |  | the Moon |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent little=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Moon has stronger gravity than the Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:10-reasoning-about-space:t3:o4:1
# text = The Moon has stronger gravity than the Earth
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	gravity	gravity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | the Moon | stronger gravity |  |  |  | than the Earth | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gravity=Patient |

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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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