---
title: A ship sends three short, three long and three short flashes of ligh… — Communication: letters, phones, radio… · tree and pragmatics
description: A ship sends three short, three long and three short flashes of light at night. What is it telling you? Test 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 eac
---

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# Test 3 · ★★★ · Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A ship sends three short, three long and three short flashes of light at night. What is it telling you?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ship, light · **What happens:** send, flash, tell · **To what, where:** you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★★ of lesson 100 «Communication: letters, phones, radio and the internet» 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/100-communication-letters-to-internet/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A ship sends three short, three long and three short flashes of light at night.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t3:1
# text = A ship sends three short, three long and three short flashes of light at night.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sends	send	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
11	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	flashes	flash	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | present | a ship |  |  |  | night | short *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **flash** |  | light |  |  |  |  |  | nom flash «event 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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is it telling you?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t3:2
# text = What is it telling you?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · progressive | ship |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is about to leave the harbour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t3:o1:1
# text = It is about to leave the harbour
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	harbour	harbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **leave** | to-infinitive |  | the harbour |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harbour=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It has just caught many fish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t3:o2:1
# text = It has just caught many fish
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | present · perfect · passive |  | It |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary fish=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is in danger and needs help

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t3:o3:1
# text = It is in danger and needs help
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
7	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  | danger |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **need** | present |  | help |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot help=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is greeting another ship

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:100-communication-letters-to-internet:t3:o4:1
# text = It is greeting another ship
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	greeting	greet	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **greet** *speech: greet* | present · progressive | It | another ship |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ship=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.

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- ← previous: [Communication: letters, phones, radio…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/100-communication-letters-to-internet/t2/)
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