---
title: What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning but still went round… — Day and night, shadows and sundials · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning but still went round the Sun? Test 8 of lesson 118 «Day and night, shadows and sundials» 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 8 · Day and night, shadows and sundials

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning but still went round the Sun?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Earth · **What happens:** happen, stop, spin, go · **To what, where:** Sun

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This is test 8 of lesson 118 «Day and night, shadows and sundials» 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/118-day-night-shadows-sundials/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:118-day-night-shadows-sundials:t8:1
# text = What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning but still went round the Sun?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	xcomp	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	still	still	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
12	round	round	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **stop** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the Earth |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **spin** | gerund | the Earth *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **go** | past | the Earth *not said here* |  |  | the Sun | still |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme round sun=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each place would get months of day, then months of night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:118-day-night-shadows-sundials:t8:o1:1
# text = Each place would get months of day, then months of night
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	advmod	_	_
10	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | each place |  |  |  | month |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be daytime everywhere at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:118-day-night-shadows-sundials:t8:o2:1
# text = It would be daytime everywhere at once
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|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	daytime	daytime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | would | It | daytime |  |  |  | everywhere *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Day and night would stay exactly the same as they are now

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:118-day-night-shadows-sundials:t8:o3:1
# text = Day and night would stay exactly the same as they are now
1	Day	Day	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
12	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | would | Day and night |  |  |  |  | same *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **does** | present | they |  |  |  | now |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sundial shadows would move faster than now

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:118-day-night-shadows-sundials:t8:o4:1
# text = Sundial shadows would move faster than now
1	Sundial	sundial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	5	fixed	_	_
7	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | would | Sundial shadows |  |  |  | now | fast *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=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: [Day and night, shadows and sundials, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/118-day-night-shadows-sundials/t7/)
- next →: [Day and night, shadows and sundials, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/118-day-night-shadows-sundials/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Day and night, shadows and sundials](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/118-day-night-shadows-sundials/)