---
title: Identify the principal cause of the tides upon the Earth's oceans. — Rivers, lakes and the sea up close · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal cause of the tides upon the Earth's oceans. Exam question 3 of lesson 64 «Rivers, lakes and the sea 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 right.
---

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# Exam question 3 · Rivers, lakes and the sea up close

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal cause of the tides upon the Earth's oceans.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, cause · **To what, where:** principal cause, tides

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 64 «Rivers, lakes and the sea up close» of the world course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:e3:1
# text = Identify the principal cause of the tides upon the Earth's oceans.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tides	tide	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	oceans	ocean	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal cause of the tides |  |  |  | upon the Earth's oceans | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent cause=Theme |
| 2 | **cause** |  |  | the tides |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pull of the Moon's gravity upon the oceans

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:e3:o1:1
# text = The pull of the Moon's gravity upon the oceans
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pull	pull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	gravity	gravity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
8	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	oceans	ocean	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** |  |  | the Moon's gravity |  |  |  | upon the oceans | nom pull «act transitive»: of=patient upon=obl |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Earthquakes occurring beneath the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:e3:o2:1
# text = Earthquakes occurring beneath the sea
1	Earthquakes	earthquake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	occurring	occur	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
3	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **occur** | gerund | Earthquakes *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme beneath sea=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wind blowing over the surface of the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:e3:o3:1
# text = The wind blowing over the surface of the sea
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	blowing	blow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
4	over	over	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow** | gerund | the wind *not said here* |  |  | the surface of the sea |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The flow of rivers into the oceans

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea:e3:o4:1
# text = The flow of rivers into the oceans
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	flow	flow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	oceans	ocean	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flow** |  | rivers |  |  | the oceans |  |  | nom flow «event intransitive»: of=agent into=place |

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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: [Rivers, lakes and the sea up close, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/64-rivers-lakes-and-the-sea/e2/)
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