---
title: Why might a desert frog wait underground for years? — The Australian outback: red kangaroos,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might a desert frog wait underground for years? Test 9 of lesson 165 «The Australian outback: red kangaroos, emus, thorny devils and runaway camels and toads» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice
---

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# Test 9 · The Australian outback: red kangaroos, emus, thorny devils…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might a desert frog wait underground for years?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** desert frog · **What happens:** wait

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 165 «The Australian outback: red kangaroos, emus, thorny devils and runaway camels and toads» 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/165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:t9:1
# text = Why might a desert frog wait underground for years?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	wait	wait	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	underground	underground	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | present | a desert frog |  |  |  | year | underground *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
Because it cannot find the way up

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:t9:o1:1
# text = Because it cannot find the way up
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	up	up	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **find up** | can | it | the way |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Topic |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To survive dry years until rain makes pools to breed in

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:t9:o2:1
# text = To survive dry years until rain makes pools to breed in
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	survive	survive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
3	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	pools	pool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	breed	breed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **survive** | to-infinitive | rain *not said here* |  |  |  | year |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | present | rain | pools |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **breed** | to-infinitive | pools *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because it is scared of kangaroos

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:t9:o3:1
# text = Because it is scared of kangaroos
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	scared	scared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	kangaroos	kangaroo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because it is hibernating from the snow, like a bear in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:165-the-australian-outback-kangaroos-emus-thorny-devils-and-runaway-toads:t9:o4:1
# text = Because it is hibernating from the snow, like a bear in winter
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	hibernating	hibernate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hibernate** | present · progressive | it |  |  | the snow |  | like a bear in winter | vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: agent=Location |

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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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