---
title: «there's a big grey bird standing dead still by our pond, bless» Wha… — Goldfish and pond fish: the three-seco… · tree and pragmatics
description: «there's a big grey bird standing dead still by our pond, bless» What is it doing? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 204 «Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choic
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«there's a big grey bird standing dead still by our pond, bless» What is it doing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** big grey bird, you, bird · **What happens:** be, stand, bless, do

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 204 «Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth» 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/204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:t8:1
# text = «there's a big grey bird standing dead still by our pond, bless» What is it doing?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
8	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
10	still	still	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	bless	bless	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
17	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	20	obj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *in a quote* | present | a big grey bird |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **stand** *in a quote* | gerund | a big grey bird *not said here* |  |  |  | still | by our pond; dead *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by pond=Location |
| 3 | **bless** *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **do** | present · progressive | bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hunting the fish, so they need hiding places or a net

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:t8:o1:1
# text = Hunting the fish, so they need hiding places or a net
1	Hunting	hunt	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	csubj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	hiding	hide	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	xcomp	_	_
9	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hunt** | gerund |  | the fish |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme |
| 2 | **need** | present | they |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **hide** *not said to happen* | gerund | they *not said here* | places or a net |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sunbathing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:t8:o2:1
# text = Sunbathing
1	Sunbathing	sunbathing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Guarding the pond for you against cats and foxes at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:t8:o3:1
# text = Guarding the pond for you against cats and foxes at night
1	Guarding	guard	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	_
6	against	against	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guard** | gerund |  | the pond |  |  | night | for you; against cats and foxes | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent pond=Beneficiary against cat=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Waiting for a bus

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth:t8:o4:1
# text = Waiting for a bus
1	Waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bus	bus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for a bus | vn exist-47.1 «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 -->

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- ← previous: [Goldfish and pond fish: the three-seco…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth/t7/)
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- ↑ back to [Goldfish and pond fish: the three-second memory myth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/204-goldfish-and-pond-fish-the-three-second-memory-myth/)