---
title: What would happen to an ostrich that really kept its head under sand… — Myth check: do ostriches bury their he… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to an ostrich that really kept its head under sand for a long time? Test 6 of lesson 151 «Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?» 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 6 · Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to an ostrich that really kept its head under sand for a long time?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** happen, keep · **To what, where:** ostrich, sand

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This is test 6 of lesson 151 «Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?» 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/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand:t6:1
# text = What would happen to an ostrich that really kept its head under sand for a long time?
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	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ostrich	ostrich	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
8	really	really	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	under	under	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to a ostrich | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **keep** | past |  | a ostrich |  | sand | time |  | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent that=Theme head=Attribute |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would hear lions better

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand:t6:o1:1
# text = It would hear lions better
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | would | It | lions |  |  |  | well *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer lion=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, it can breathe sand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand:t6:o2:1
# text = Nothing, it can breathe sand
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	acl:relcl	_	_
6	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **breathe** | can | it | sand |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sand=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would run out of air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand:t6:o3:1
# text = It would run out of air
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | would | It |  |  | air |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme out air=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would cool down nicely

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand:t6:o4:1
# text = It would cool down nicely
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	cool	cool	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	nicely	nicely	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cool down** | would | It |  |  |  |  | nicely *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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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- ← previous: [Myth check: do ostriches bury their he…, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/t5/)
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- ↑ back to [Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/)