---
title: Why is the Earth sometimes called the blue planet? — Continents and oceans · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is the Earth sometimes called the blue planet? Test 8 of lesson 42 «Continents and oceans» 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 · Continents and oceans

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is the Earth sometimes called the blue planet?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Earth · **What happens:** be, call · **To what, where:** blue planet · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 42 «Continents and oceans» 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/42-continents-and-oceans/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:42-continents-and-oceans:t8:1
# text = Why is the Earth sometimes called the blue planet?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
6	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl:relcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	planet	planet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** | past | the Earth | the blue planet |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
Because it is closer to the Sun than other planets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:42-continents-and-oceans:t8:o1:1
# text = Because it is closer to the Sun than other planets
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	closer	close	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	planets	planet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | to the Sun; than other planets; close *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because its sky is blue only from space

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:42-continents-and-oceans:t8:o2:1
# text = Because its sky is blue only from space
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because most of its surface is covered by water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:42-continents-and-oceans:t8:o3:1
# text = Because most of its surface is covered by water
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | present · passive | water | most of its surface |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Destination |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because its land is mostly blue rock

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:42-continents-and-oceans:t8:o4:1
# text = Because its land is mostly blue rock
1	Because	because	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	3	case	_	_
2	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	mostly	mostly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | blue rock |  |  |  | because its land | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Continents and oceans, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/42-continents-and-oceans/t7/)
- next →: [Continents and oceans, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/42-continents-and-oceans/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Continents and oceans](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/42-continents-and-oceans/)