---
title: Ascertain the speed at which radio waves travel. — Communication: letters, phones, radio… · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the speed at which radio waves travel. Exam question 3 of lesson 100 «Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet» 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 3 · Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the speed at which radio waves travel.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, radio · **What happens:** ascertain, wave · **To what, where:** speed, travel

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 100 «Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet» 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/100-communication-letters-to-internet/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:e3:1
# text = Ascertain the speed at which radio waves travel.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	6	det	_	_
6	radio	radio	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	waves	wave	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
8	travel	travel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the speed |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speed=Topic |
| 2 | **wave** | present | which radio | travel |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent travel=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 -->
The speed of a fast train

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:e3:o1:1
# text = The speed of a fast train
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	fast	fast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	train	train	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The speed of sound, about one kilometre in three seconds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:e3:o2:1
# text = The speed of sound, about one kilometre in three seconds
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	kilometre	kilometre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	seconds	second	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The speed of light, about 300,000 kilometres per second

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:e3:o3:1
# text = The speed of light, about 300,000 kilometres per second
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	300,000	300000	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	kilometres	kilometre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
9	per	per	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	second	second	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About 300 kilometres per second

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:e3:o4:1
# text = About 300 kilometres per second
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	300	300	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	kilometres	kilometre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	per	per	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	second	second	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

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- ← previous: [Communication: letters, phones, radio…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/e2/)
- next →: [Communication: letters, phones, radio…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/e4/)
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