---
title: why do stars look so tiny if they're massive — The Sun as a star and the stars · tree and pragmatics
description: why do stars look so tiny if they're massive Test 11 of lesson 5 «The Sun as a star and the stars» 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 11 · The Sun as a star and the stars

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why do stars look so tiny if they're massive

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** stars · **What happens:** look, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 5 «The Sun as a star and the stars» 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/5-the-sun-and-the-stars/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:5-the-sun-and-the-stars:t11:1
# text = why do stars look so tiny if they're massive
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	're	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	massive	massive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | present · do-support | stars |  |  |  |  | tiny *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | stars *= star* |  |  |  |  | massive *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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because they're very, very far away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:5-the-sun-and-the-stars:t11:o1:1
# text = Because they're very, very far away
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	're	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	away	away	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because they really are smaller than the Moon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:5-the-sun-and-the-stars:t11:o2:1
# text = Because they really are smaller than the Moon
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	really	really	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the air shrinks them at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:5-the-sun-and-the-stars:t11:o3:1
# text = Because the air shrinks them at night
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	shrinks	shrink	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shrink** | present | the air | them *= they* |  |  | night |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because they are much colder than the Sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:5-the-sun-and-the-stars:t11:o4:1
# text = Because they are much colder than the Sun
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	colder	cold	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

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

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- ← previous: [The Sun as a star and the stars, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/5-the-sun-and-the-stars/t10/)
- next →: [The Sun as a star and the stars, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/5-the-sun-and-the-stars/t12/)
- ↑ back to [The Sun as a star and the stars](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/5-the-sun-and-the-stars/)