---
title: «found a mud ball, gonna smash it» Why might that be a bad idea in t… — The Congo river: tigerfish, the deepes… · tree and pragmatics
description: «found a mud ball, gonna smash it» Why might that be a bad idea in the Congo? Test 7 of lesson 160 «The Congo river: tigerfish, the deepest river, lungfish and hidden birds» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mo
---

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# Test 7 · The Congo river: tigerfish, the deepest river, lungfish an…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«found a mud ball, gonna smash it» Why might that be a bad idea in the Congo?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mud ball, that · **What happens:** find, smash, be · **To what, where:** mud ball, ball, bad idea, Congo · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 160 «The Congo river: tigerfish, the deepest river, lungfish and hidden birds» 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/160-the-congo-river/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:160-the-congo-river:t7:1
# text = «found a mud ball, gonna smash it» Why might that be a bad idea in the Congo?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	gonna	gonna	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	8	dep	_	_
8	smash	smash	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
12	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	nsubj	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Congo	Congo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** *in a quote* | past |  | a mud ball |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ball=Topic |
| 2 | **smash** *in a quote* | infinitive | a mud ball *not said here* | ball |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | might | that | a bad idea |  | the Congo |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Mud is poisonous to touch

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:160-the-congo-river:t7:o1:1
# text = Mud is poisonous to touch
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Mud |  |  |  |  | poisonous *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **touch** | to-infinitive | Mud *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It might be a bird's nest made of gold, hidden there long ago

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:160-the-congo-river:t7:o2:1
# text = It might be a bird's nest made of gold, hidden there long ago
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
13	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
14	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
15	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | might | It | a bird's nest |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | participle |  | a bird's nest *not said here* |  |  |  | of gold | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 3 | **hide** | participle |  |  |  | there |  | ago *property* | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It could hold a lungfish waiting for the rain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:160-the-congo-river:t7:o3:1
# text = It could hold a lungfish waiting for the rain
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	lungfish	lungfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | could | It | a lungfish |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **wait** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for the rain | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mud balls explode

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:160-the-congo-river:t7:o4:1
# text = Mud balls explode
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	balls	ball	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	explode	explode	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explode** | present | Mud balls |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->
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