---
title: «thousands of starlings swirling over the pier, why don't they bump»… — Garden birds: robins, blackbirds, tits… · tree and pragmatics
description: «thousands of starlings swirling over the pier, why don't they bump» What is right? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 216 «Garden birds: robins, blackbirds, tits and feeders» 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 10 · ★ · Garden birds: robins, blackbirds, tits and feeders

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«thousands of starlings swirling over the pier, why don't they bump» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** thousands · **What happens:** swirl, not bump, be · **To what, where:** pier

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 216 «Garden birds: robins, blackbirds, tits and feeders» 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/216-garden-birds-robins-blackbirds-tits-and-feeders/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:216-garden-birds-robins-blackbirds-tits-and-feeders:t10:1
# text = «thousands of starlings swirling over the pier, why don't they bump» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	starlings	starling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	swirling	swirl	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	over	over	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	pier	pier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
11	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	bump	bump	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
16	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swirl** *in a quote* | gerund | thousands of starlings |  |  | the pier |  |  | vn coil-9.6 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over pier=Destination |
| 2 | **not** **bump** *in a quote* | present · do-support | thousands *= thousand* |  |  |  |  |  | vn bump-18.4-1 «NP V together»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | right *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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each bird follows only its nearest neighbours

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:216-garden-birds-robins-blackbirds-tits-and-feeders:t10:o1:1
# text = Each bird follows only its nearest neighbours
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	follows	follow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | present | each bird | bird's nearest neighbours |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent neighbour=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A leader shouts directions to the whole flock

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:216-garden-birds-robins-blackbirds-tits-and-feeders:t10:o2:1
# text = A leader shouts directions to the whole flock
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	leader	leader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shouts	shout	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	directions	direction	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shout** *speech: express* | present | a leader | directions | the whole flock |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent direction=Topic to flock=Recipient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They bump all the time and many fall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:216-garden-birds-robins-blackbirds-tits-and-feeders:t10:o3:1
# text = They bump all the time and many fall
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	bump	bump	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	5	det:predet	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	nsubj	_	_
8	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bump** | present | They |  |  |  | time |  | vn bump-18.4-1 «NP V together»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fall** | present | many |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are all tied together

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:216-garden-birds-robins-blackbirds-tits-and-feeders:t10:o4:1
# text = They are all tied together
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tie** | present · passive |  | They |  |  |  | all, together *property* | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

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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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- ↑ back to [Garden birds: robins, blackbirds, tits and feeders](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/216-garden-birds-robins-blackbirds-tits-and-feeders/)