---
title: A moss patch on an Antarctic rock is only as big as your hand. Why m… — Antarctica: emperor huddles, krill, cl… · tree and pragmatics
description: A moss patch on an Antarctic rock is only as big as your hand. Why might it be hundreds of years old? Test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 170 «Antarctica: emperor huddles, krill, clear-blooded fish and stone-stealing penguins» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmati
---

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# Test 11 · ★★★ · Antarctica: emperor huddles, krill, clear-blooded fish and…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A moss patch on an Antarctic rock is only as big as your hand. Why might it be hundreds of years old?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** moss patch, patch · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** hundreds

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 170 «Antarctica: emperor huddles, krill, clear-blooded fish and stone-stealing penguins» 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/170-antarctica-emperor-huddles-krill-clear-blooded-fish-and-stone-stealing-penguins/#t11).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A moss patch on an Antarctic rock is only as big as your hand.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:170-antarctica-emperor-huddles-krill-clear-blooded-fish-and-stone-stealing-penguins:t11:1
# text = A moss patch on an Antarctic rock is only as big as your hand.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	moss	moss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	patch	patch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Antarctic	antarctic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	as	as	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
12	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a moss patch on a Antarctic rock |  |  |  |  | as your hand; big *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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why might it be hundreds of years old?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:170-antarctica-emperor-huddles-krill-clear-blooded-fish-and-stone-stealing-penguins:t11:2
# text = Why might it be hundreds of years old?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
8	old	old	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 a** | might | patch | hundreds |  |  | year |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Someone planted it long ago

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:170-antarctica-emperor-huddles-krill-clear-blooded-fish-and-stone-stealing-penguins:t11:o1:1
# text = Someone planted it long ago
1	Someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
2	planted	plant	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
5	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plant** | past | Someone | it |  |  |  | ago *property* | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mosses there grow extremely slowly in the cold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:170-antarctica-emperor-huddles-krill-clear-blooded-fish-and-stone-stealing-penguins:t11:o2:1
# text = Mosses there grow extremely slowly in the cold
1	Mosses	moss	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	extremely	extremely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	cold	cold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | Mosses |  |  | the cold; there |  | slowly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cold=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Moss never grows at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:170-antarctica-emperor-huddles-krill-clear-blooded-fish-and-stone-stealing-penguins:t11:o3:1
# text = Moss never grows at all
1	Moss	moss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **grow** | present | Moss |  |  | all |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at all=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was frozen and brought from the Arctic by ships long ago

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:170-antarctica-emperor-huddles-krill-clear-blooded-fish-and-stone-stealing-penguins:t11:o4:1
# text = It was frozen and brought from the Arctic by ships long ago
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Arctic	Arctic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
11	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
12	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** | past · passive |  | It |  |  |  | by ships; ago *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result |
| 2 | **bring** | participle |  |  |  | the Arctic |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent from arctic=Initial\_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.

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