---
title: A cartoon sloth is so lazy it falls asleep mid-sentence. What is the… — The Amazon canopy: howlers, harpy eagl… · tree and pragmatics
description: A cartoon sloth is so lazy it falls asleep mid-sentence. What is the real reason sloths are slow? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 156 «The Amazon canopy: howlers, harpy eagles, toucans, dart frogs and sloth gardens» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the 
---

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# Test 1 · ★ · The Amazon canopy: howlers, harpy eagles, toucans, dart fr…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cartoon sloth is so lazy it falls asleep mid-sentence. What is the real reason sloths are slow?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cartoon sloth, sloth · **What happens:** be, fall · **To what, where:** asleep mid-sentence

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 156 «The Amazon canopy: howlers, harpy eagles, toucans, dart frogs and sloth gardens» 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/156-the-amazon-canopy/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A cartoon sloth is so lazy it falls asleep mid-sentence.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:156-the-amazon-canopy:t1:1
# text = A cartoon sloth is so lazy it falls asleep mid-sentence.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	sloth	sloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	lazy	lazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	falls	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
9	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	mid-sentence	mid-sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a cartoon sloth |  |  |  |  | lazy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall** | present | sloth | asleep mid-sentence |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient mid-sentence=Result |

<!-- .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 real reason sloths are slow?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:156-the-amazon-canopy:t1:2
# text = What is the real reason sloths are slow?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	sloths	sloth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are just lazy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:156-the-amazon-canopy:t1:o1:1
# text = They are just lazy
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	lazy	lazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They want to look funny and harmless so that jaguars and eagles leave them alone

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:156-the-amazon-canopy:t1:o2:1
# text = They want to look funny and harmless so that jaguars and eagles leave them alone
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	harmless	harmless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	13	mark	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	fixed	_	_
10	jaguars	jaguar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	eagles	eagle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	conj	_	_
13	leave	leave	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **look** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | funny *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **leave** | present | jaguars and eagles | eagles *= eagle* |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their leafy food gives very little energy, so moving slowly saves it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:156-the-amazon-canopy:t1:o3:1
# text = Their leafy food gives very little energy, so moving slowly saves it
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	leafy	leafy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	gives	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	energy	energy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	moving	move	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	csubj	_	_
11	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	saves	save	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | present | Their leafy food | little energy |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent energy=Theme |
| 2 | **move** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | slowly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **save** | present | moving | energy |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are always ill

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:156-the-amazon-canopy:t1:o4:1
# text = They are always ill
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | always, ill *property* | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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