---
title: What would happen to barn owls if all the mice in an area disappeared? — How real mice survive: squeezing, clim… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to barn owls if all the mice in an area disappeared? Test 5 of lesson 120 «How real mice survive: squeezing, climbing and hiding» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/120-how-real-mice-survive/t5/)

<!-- 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/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [How real mice survive: squeezing, clim…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/120-how-real-mice-survive/) / t5

# Test 5 · How real mice survive: squeezing, climbing and hiding

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to barn owls if all the mice in an area disappeared?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mice · **What happens:** happen, disappear · **To what, where:** barn owls

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 120 «How real mice survive: squeezing, climbing and hiding» 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/120-how-real-mice-survive/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t5:1
# text = What would happen to barn owls if all the mice in an area disappeared?
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	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
5	barn	barn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	xcomp	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
8	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	10	det:predet	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	area	area	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  | barn owls |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **disappear** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | all mice in a area |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
They would start eating grass

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t5:o1:1
# text = They would start eating grass
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | would | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund | They *not said here* | grass |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would grow bigger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t5:o2:1
# text = They would grow bigger
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | They |  |  |  |  | big *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would struggle to find enough food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t5:o3:1
# text = They would struggle to find enough food
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	struggle	struggle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	enough	enough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **struggle** | would | They |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* | enough food |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, owls never eat mice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t5:o4:1
# text = Nothing, owls never eat mice
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	owls	owl	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	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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: [How real mice survive: squeezing, clim…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/120-how-real-mice-survive/t4/)
- next →: [How real mice survive: squeezing, clim…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/120-how-real-mice-survive/t6/)
- ↑ back to [How real mice survive: squeezing, climbing and hiding](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/120-how-real-mice-survive/)