---
title: What would happen if a farmer knocked a small hole in a beaver dam? — Animal builders: beavers, dams and lod… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a farmer knocked a small hole in a beaver dam? Test 5 of lesson 242 «Animal builders: beavers, dams and lodges» 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/242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges/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/) / [Animal builders: beavers, dams and lod…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges/) / t5

# Test 5 · Animal builders: beavers, dams and lodges

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a farmer knocked a small hole in a beaver dam?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** farmer · **What happens:** happen, knock · **To what, where:** small hole, beaver dam

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 242 «Animal builders: beavers, dams and lodges» 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/242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges:t5:1
# text = What would happen if a farmer knocked a small hole in a beaver dam?
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	beaver	beaver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	dam	dam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	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 | **knock** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a farmer | a small hole |  | a beaver dam |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent hole=Theme in dam=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
The beavers would leave and never come back to that pond again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges:t5:o1:1
# text = The beavers would leave and never come back to that pond again
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	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
8	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	again	again	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | would | the beavers |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **come back** | infinitive | the beavers *not said here* |  |  | that pond | again |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to pond=Initial\_Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pond would freeze straight away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges:t5:o2:1
# text = The pond would freeze straight away
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	freeze	freeze	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** | would | the pond |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The beavers would hear the leak and soon fix it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges:t5:o3:1
# text = The beavers would hear the leak and soon fix it
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	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	leak	leak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	_
9	fix	fix	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | would | the beavers | the leak |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer leak=Stimulus |
| 2 | **fix** | infinitive | the beavers *not said here* | leak |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, beavers never fix their dams

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges:t5:o4:1
# text = Nothing, beavers never fix their dams
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	beavers	beaver	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	fix	fix	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	dams	dam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **fix** | present | beavers | beavers's dams |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent dam=Patient |

<!-- 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: [Animal builders: beavers, dams and lod…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges/t4/)
- next →: [Animal builders: beavers, dams and lod…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Animal builders: beavers, dams and lodges](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges/)