---
title: What would happen to the trees by Yellowstone's rivers if the wolves… — Wolves and dogs · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to the trees by Yellowstone's rivers if the wolves were taken away again? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 24 «Wolves and dogs» 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 was wrong.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/24-wolves-and-dogs/t5/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [Wolves and dogs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/24-wolves-and-dogs/) / t5

# Test 5 · ★ · Wolves and dogs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to the trees by Yellowstone's rivers if the wolves were taken away again?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** happen, take away · **To what, where:** wolves

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 24 «Wolves and dogs» 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/24-wolves-and-dogs/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t5:1
# text = What would happen to the trees by Yellowstone's rivers if the wolves were taken away again?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	Yellowstone	Yellowstone	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
16	away	away	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	again	again	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to the trees; by Yellowstone's rivers | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by river=Location |
| 2 | **take away** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | the wolves |  |  | again | away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The trees would grow faster than ever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t5:o1:1
# text = The trees would grow faster than ever
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | the trees |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rivers would freeze over and stay frozen all year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t5:o2:1
# text = The rivers would freeze over and stay frozen all year
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rivers	river	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	freeze	freeze	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	over	over	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
8	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	xcomp	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
10	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze over** | would | the rivers |  |  |  |  | over *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **stay** | infinitive | the rivers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **freeze** | participle | the rivers *not said here* |  |  |  | year |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The beavers would eat the elk

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t5:o3:1
# text = The beavers would eat the elk
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	beavers	beaver	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	elk	elk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | would | the beavers | the elk |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent elk=Patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Elk would graze them more and fewer would grow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t5:o4:1
# text = Elk would graze them more and fewer would grow
1	Elk	elk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	graze	graze	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **graze** | would | Elk | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Experiencer |
| 2 | **grow** | would | fewer |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Wolves and dogs, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/24-wolves-and-dogs/t4/)
- next →: [Wolves and dogs, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/24-wolves-and-dogs/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Wolves and dogs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/24-wolves-and-dogs/)