---
title: Your friend says sea otters are just big cuddly ducks of the sea, th… — Sea lions, seals and otters · tree and pragmatics
description: Your friend says sea otters are just big cuddly ducks of the sea, they do nothing much. What is the truth? Test 8 · ★★★ of lesson 100 «Sea lions, seals and otters» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choic
---

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# Test 8 · ★★★ · Sea lions, seals and otters

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your friend says sea otters are just big cuddly ducks of the sea, they do nothing much. What is the truth?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** friend, sea otters, otters, truth · **What happens:** say, be, do · **To what, where:** big cuddly ducks, nothing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★★ of lesson 100 «Sea lions, seals and otters» of the biology 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/biology/100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Your friend says sea otters are just big cuddly ducks of the sea, they do nothing much.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters:t8:1
# text = Your friend says sea otters are just big cuddly ducks of the sea, they do nothing much.
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	otters	otter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
7	just	just	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	cuddly	cuddly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	ccomp	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
17	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	16	obj	_	_
18	much	much	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Your friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | sea otters | big cuddly ducks |  |  |  | of the sea | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | present | otters *= otter* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is the truth?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters:t8:2
# text = What is the truth?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	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	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They only sleep and never eat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters:t8:o1:1
# text = They only sleep and never eat
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	sleep	sleep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sleep** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **eat** | infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They eat the kelp forests down to bare rock

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters:t8:o2:1
# text = They eat the kelp forests down to bare rock
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	kelp	kelp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	forests	forest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	down	down	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	bare	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
9	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | They | the kelp forests |  |  |  | down *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forest=Patient |
| 2 | **bear** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* | rock |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rock=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are birds that cannot fly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters:t8:o3:1
# text = They are birds that cannot fly
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | birds |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **fly** | can | birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They protect whole kelp forests by eating urchins

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:100-sea-lions-seals-and-otters:t8:o4:1
# text = They protect whole kelp forests by eating urchins
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	protect	protect	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	kelp	kelp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	forests	forest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	urchins	urchin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **protect** | present | They | whole kelp forests |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forest=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund | They *not said here* | urchins |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent urchin=Patient |

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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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