---
title: Why would scientists be surprised to find sponges under nine hundred… — The Southern Ocean: blue whales, colos… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would scientists be surprised to find sponges under nine hundred metres of ice? Test 9 of lesson 171 «The Southern Ocean: blue whales, colossal squid and life under the ice» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option
---

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# Test 9 · The Southern Ocean: blue whales, colossal squid and life u…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would scientists be surprised to find sponges under nine hundred metres of ice?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** scientists · **What happens:** be, find · **To what, where:** sponges, hundred metres

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 171 «The Southern Ocean: blue whales, colossal squid and life under the ice» 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/171-the-southern-ocean-blue-whales-colossal-squid-and-life-under-the-ice/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:171-the-southern-ocean-blue-whales-colossal-squid-and-life-under-the-ice:t9:1
# text = Why would scientists be surprised to find sponges under nine hundred metres of ice?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	surprised	surprised	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
8	sponges	sponge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	under	under	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	compound	_	_
11	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	metres	metre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | scientists |  |  |  |  | surprised *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | to-infinitive | scientists *not said here* | sponges |  | hundred metres of ice |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sponge=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Ice is far too hot for sponges, they like boiling water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:171-the-southern-ocean-blue-whales-colossal-squid-and-life-under-the-ice:t9:o1:1
# text = Ice is far too hot for sponges, they like boiling water
1	Ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	sponges	sponge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
11	boiling	boil	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	amod	_	_
12	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Ice |  |  |  |  | for sponges; far, hot *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **like** | present | sponges *= sponge* | boiling water |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot water=Theme |
| 3 | **boil** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They live far from open water and sunlight, where food is very scarce

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:171-the-southern-ocean-blue-whales-colossal-squid-and-life-under-the-ice:t9:o2:1
# text = They live far from open water and sunlight, where food is very scarce
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	14	advmod	_	_
11	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	very	very	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	scarce	scarce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | They |  |  | open water and sunlight |  | far *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | food |  |  |  |  | scarce *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sponges cannot live in water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:171-the-southern-ocean-blue-whales-colossal-squid-and-life-under-the-ice:t9:o3:1
# text = Sponges cannot live in water
1	Sponges	sponge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **live** | can | Sponges |  |  | water |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in water=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sponges only live in hot, dry deserts

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:171-the-southern-ocean-blue-whales-colossal-squid-and-life-under-the-ice:t9:o4:1
# text = Sponges only live in hot, dry deserts
1	Sponges	sponge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	deserts	desert	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | Sponges |  |  | hot dry deserts |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in desert=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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- ↑ back to [The Southern Ocean: blue whales, colossal squid and life under the ice](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/171-the-southern-ocean-blue-whales-colossal-squid-and-life-under-the-ice/)