---
title: What would happen if an eagle flew over while the meerkats were digg… — The African savanna area: hippos, meer… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if an eagle flew over while the meerkats were digging? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 102 «The African savanna area: hippos, meerkats, ostriches, wild dogs and hyenas» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; 
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · The African savanna area: hippos, meerkats, ostriches, wil…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if an eagle flew over while the meerkats were digging?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** eagle, meerkats · **What happens:** happen, fly over, dig

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This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 102 «The African savanna area: hippos, meerkats, ostriches, wild dogs and hyenas» 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/102-the-african-savanna-area-hippos-meerkats-ostriches/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:102-the-african-savanna-area-hippos-meerkats-ostriches:t6:1
# text = What would happen if an eagle flew over while the meerkats were digging?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	over	over	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	meerkats	meerkat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	digging	dig	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fly over** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a eagle |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **dig** | past · progressive | the meerkats |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1-1 «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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The meerkats would stand still and wave

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:102-the-african-savanna-area-hippos-meerkats-ostriches:t6:o1:1
# text = The meerkats would stand still and wave
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	meerkats	meerkat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	still	still	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	wave	wave	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | would | the meerkats |  |  |  | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **wave** | present | the meerkats *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, eagles never eat meerkats

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:102-the-african-savanna-area-hippos-meerkats-ostriches:t6:o2:1
# text = Nothing, eagles never eat meerkats
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	eagles	eagle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	meerkats	meerkat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **eat** | present | eagles | Nothing |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meerkat=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The guard would jump up and fight the eagle all on its own

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:102-the-african-savanna-area-hippos-meerkats-ostriches:t6:o3:1
# text = The guard would jump up and fight the eagle all on its own
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	jump	jump	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	all	all	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **jump up** | would | the guard |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fight** | infinitive | the guard *not said here* | the eagle |  | guard's own |  | all *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eagle=Co-Agent |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The guard would call and they would dive into the burrow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:102-the-african-savanna-area-hippos-meerkats-ostriches:t6:o4:1
# text = The guard would call and they would dive into the burrow
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	dive	dive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	burrow	burrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | would | the guard |  |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **dive** | would | they |  |  | the burrow |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into burrow=Location |

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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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