---
title: Why do scientists slow down their recordings of mouse songs? — How real mice survive: squeezing, clim… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do scientists slow down their recordings of mouse songs? Test 9 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 9 · How real mice survive: squeezing, climbing and hiding

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do scientists slow down their recordings of mouse songs?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** scientists · **What happens:** slow down · **To what, where:** recordings

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t9:1
# text = Why do scientists slow down their recordings of mouse songs?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	slow	slow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	recordings	recording	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slow down** | present · do-support | scientists | scientists's recordings of mouse songs |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent recording=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The songs are too high for people to hear at normal speed

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t9:o1:1
# text = The songs are too high for people to hear at normal speed
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	normal	normal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the songs |  |  |  |  | high *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | to-infinitive | people |  |  | normal speed |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The mice sing far too fast for any scientist to write down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t9:o2:1
# text = The mice sing far too fast for any scientist to write down
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sing	sing	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	scientist	scientist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
12	down	down	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | the mice |  |  |  |  | for any scientist; fast *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for scientist=Recipient |
| 2 | **write down** | to-infinitive | the mice *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To make the mice sing better

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t9:o3:1
# text = To make the mice sing better
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	sing	sing	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | the mice |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset mouse=Product |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | present |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Slow songs keep the mice warm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:120-how-real-mice-survive:t9:o4:1
# text = Slow songs keep the mice warm
1	Slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | Slow songs | the mice |  |  |  | warm *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouse=Theme |

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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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