---
title: Why might a tiger, rhino and elephant on an island be smaller than t… — Sumatra: the smallest tiger, the hairy… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might a tiger, rhino and elephant on an island be smaller than their cousins on big lands? Test 7 of lesson 162 «Sumatra: the smallest tiger, the hairy rhino, the stinking giant flower and the venomous loris» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics
---

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# Test 7 · Sumatra: the smallest tiger, the hairy rhino, the stinking…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might a tiger, rhino and elephant on an island be smaller than their cousins on big lands?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** tiger · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 162 «Sumatra: the smallest tiger, the hairy rhino, the stinking giant flower and the venomous loris» 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/162-sumatra-tigers-hairy-rhinos-and-the-venomous-loris/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:162-sumatra-tigers-hairy-rhinos-and-the-venomous-loris:t7:1
# text = Why might a tiger, rhino and elephant on an island be smaller than their cousins on big lands?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tiger	tiger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	rhino	rhino	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	cop	_	_
13	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	cousins	cousin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	lands	land	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | might | a tiger |  |  |  |  | than rhino's cousins on big lands; small *property* | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Islands are full of giants that hunt and eat all the big animals first

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:162-sumatra-tigers-hairy-rhinos-and-the-venomous-loris:t7:o1:1
# text = Islands are full of giants that hunt and eat all the big animals first
1	Islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	giants	giant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	hunt	hunt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	13	det:predet	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
14	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Islands |  |  |  |  | of giants; first, full *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hunt** | present | giants |  |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **eat** | present | giants *not said here* | all big animals |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They drink salt water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:162-sumatra-tigers-hairy-rhinos-and-the-venomous-loris:t7:o2:1
# text = They drink salt water
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	drink	drink	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink** | present | They | salt water |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The island is colder

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:162-sumatra-tigers-hairy-rhinos-and-the-venomous-loris:t7:o3:1
# text = The island is colder
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	colder	cold	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On islands with less room and food, smaller animals do better over many generations

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:162-sumatra-tigers-hairy-rhinos-and-the-venomous-loris:t7:o4:1
# text = On islands with less room and food, smaller animals do better over many generations
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
9	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	amod	_	_
10	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	11	advmod	_	_
13	over	over	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	generations	generation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | smaller animals |  |  | islands with less room and food | over many generations | well *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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