---
title: Which is true about predicting earthquakes? — Volcanoes and earthquakes up close · tree and pragmatics
description: Which is true about predicting earthquakes? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 62 «Volcanoes and earthquakes up close» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes/t3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/) / [Volcanoes and earthquakes up close](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes/) / t3

# Test 3 · ★ · Volcanoes and earthquakes up close

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which is true about predicting earthquakes?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, predict · **To what, where:** earthquakes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 62 «Volcanoes and earthquakes up close» 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/62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes:t3:1
# text = Which is true about predicting earthquakes?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	predicting	predict	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	earthquakes	earthquake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **predict** | gerund |  | earthquakes |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot earthquake=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Scientists can tell the exact hour weeks ahead of every quake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes:t3:o1:1
# text = Scientists can tell the exact hour weeks ahead of every quake
1	Scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	exact	exact	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	ahead	ahead	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
11	quake	quake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | can | Scientists |  |  |  | week | ahead *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Scientists know where they are likely, but not the exact day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes:t3:o2:1
# text = Scientists know where they are likely, but not the exact day
1	Scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	6	advmod	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	exact	exact	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | Scientists |  |  |  | day |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | present | Scientists *= scientist* |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Earthquakes come only at night, so they are very easy to predict

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes:t3:o3:1
# text = Earthquakes come only at night, so they are very easy to predict
1	Earthquakes	earthquake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	predict	predict	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | present | Earthquakes |  |  |  | night |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | Earthquakes *= earthquake* |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **predict** | to-infinitive | Earthquakes *= earthquake* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Animals always warn us a day before, so we can simply watch them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes:t3:o4:1
# text = Animals always warn us a day before, so we can simply watch them
1	Animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	warn	warn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	before	before	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
10	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	simply	simply	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **warn** *speech: warn* | present | Animals |  | us |  | day | always, before *property* | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient |
| 2 | **watch** | can | we | Animals *= animal* |  |  |  | simply *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Volcanoes and earthquakes up close, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes/t2/)
- next →: [Volcanoes and earthquakes up close, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes/t4/)
- ↑ back to [Volcanoes and earthquakes up close](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/62-volcanoes-and-earthquakes/)