---
title: What would happen if no meerkat stood guard? — Team players and partners: meerkats, n… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if no meerkat stood guard? Test 6 of lesson 241 «Team players and partners: meerkats, naked mole rats, huddles, cleaners (and do lemmings jump?)» 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 6 · Team players and partners: meerkats, naked mole rats, hudd…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if no meerkat stood guard?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** meerkat · **What happens:** happen, stand · **To what, where:** guard

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 241 «Team players and partners: meerkats, naked mole rats, huddles, cleaners (and do lemmings jump?)» 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/241-team-players-and-partners-meerkats-naked-mole-rats-huddles-cleaners-and-lemmings/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:241-team-players-and-partners-meerkats-naked-mole-rats-huddles-cleaners-and-lemmings:t6:1
# text = What would happen if no meerkat stood guard?
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	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	meerkat	meerkat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **stand** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | no meerkat | guard |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer guard=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 scorpions would protect them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:241-team-players-and-partners-meerkats-naked-mole-rats-huddles-cleaners-and-lemmings:t6:o1:1
# text = The scorpions would protect them
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	scorpions	scorpion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **protect** | would | the scorpions | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would dig faster without stopping and be quite safe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:241-team-players-and-partners-meerkats-naked-mole-rats-huddles-cleaners-and-lemmings:t6:o2:1
# text = They would dig faster without stopping and be quite safe
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	dig	dig	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
5	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	stopping	stop	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
9	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dig** | would | They |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **stop** | gerund | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **is** | infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | safe *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An eagle could catch them while they dig with heads down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:241-team-players-and-partners-meerkats-naked-mole-rats-huddles-cleaners-and-lemmings:t6:o3:1
# text = An eagle could catch them while they dig with heads down
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	dig	dig	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
11	down	down	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | could | a eagle | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 2 | **dig down** | present | they |  |  |  |  | with heads; down *property* | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with head=Instrument |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, because eagles and jackals never hunt meerkats at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:241-team-players-and-partners-meerkats-naked-mole-rats-huddles-cleaners-and-lemmings:t6:o4:1
# text = Nothing, because eagles and jackals never hunt meerkats at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	eagles	eagle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	jackals	jackal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
7	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	hunt	hunt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
9	meerkats	meerkat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **hunt** | present | eagles and jackals | meerkats |  | all |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent meerkat=Theme at all=Location |

<!-- 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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