---
title: Antbirds dart about at the front of an army ant swarm. What are they… — The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Antbirds dart about at the front of an army ant swarm. What are they doing? Test 11 of lesson 157 «The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters, army ants, tapirs, jaguars and the giant spider» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of eac
---

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# Test 11 · The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters, army ants, tapirs, j…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Antbirds dart about at the front of an army ant swarm. What are they doing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Antbirds · **What happens:** dart about, do · **To what, where:** front

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This is test 11 of lesson 157 «The Amazon forest floor: leafcutters, army ants, tapirs, jaguars and the giant spider» 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/157-the-amazon-forest-floor/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Antbirds dart about at the front of an army ant swarm.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:t11:1
# text = Antbirds dart about at the front of an army ant swarm.
1	Antbirds	antbird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	dart	dart	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	about	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	ant	ant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	swarm	swarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dart about** | present | Antbirds |  |  | the front of a ant swarm |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at front=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 are they doing?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:t11:2
# text = What are they doing?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present · progressive | Antbirds *= antbird* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fighting the ants to take over their nest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:t11:o1:1
# text = Fighting the ants to take over their nest
1	Fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
6	over	over	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | gerund |  | the ants |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ant=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **take over** | to-infinitive |  | ants's nest |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Eating the army ants one by one as they march

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:t11:o2:1
# text = Eating the army ants one by one as they march
1	Eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	appos	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nmod	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	march	march	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | gerund |  | the army ants |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ant=Patient |
| 2 | **march** | present | ants *= ant* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Snatching insects that flee the ants

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:t11:o3:1
# text = Snatching insects that flee the ants
1	Snatching	snatch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	amod	_	_
2	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	flee	flee	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **snatch** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **flee** | present | Snatching insects | the ants |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme ant=Initial\_Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Leading the ants like a guide through the forest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:157-the-amazon-forest-floor:t11:o4:1
# text = Leading the ants like a guide through the forest
1	Leading	lead	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	guide	guide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	through	through	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lead** | gerund |  | the ants |  | the forest |  | like a guide | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent ant=Theme through forest=Destination |

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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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