---
title: Why do people keep a donkey in a field of sheep? — Horses, zebras and donkeys · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do people keep a donkey in a field of sheep? Test 10 of lesson 25 «Horses, zebras and donkeys» 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 right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/t10/)

<!-- 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/) / [Horses, zebras and donkeys](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/) / t10

# Test 10 · Horses, zebras and donkeys

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do people keep a donkey in a field of sheep?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** people · **What happens:** keep · **To what, where:** donkey, field

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 25 «Horses, zebras and donkeys» 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/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t10:1
# text = Why do people keep a donkey in a field of sheep?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present · do-support | people | a donkey |  | a field of sheep |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent donkey=Theme in field=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
Donkeys keep the sheep warm at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t10:o1:1
# text = Donkeys keep the sheep warm at night
1	Donkeys	donkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | Donkeys | the sheep |  |  | night | warm *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sheep=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Donkeys chase off foxes and dogs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t10:o2:1
# text = Donkeys chase off foxes and dogs
1	Donkeys	donkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	chase	chase	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chase off** | present | Donkeys | foxes and dogs |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fox=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Donkeys eat the sheep's ticks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t10:o3:1
# text = Donkeys eat the sheep's ticks
1	Donkeys	donkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	ticks	tick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | Donkeys | the sheep's ticks |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tick=Patient |
| 2 | **tick** |  | the sheep |  |  |  |  |  | nom tick «event transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sheep teach donkeys to be calm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t10:o4:1
# text = Sheep teach donkeys to be calm
1	Sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	teach	teach	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	donkeys	donkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
6	calm	calm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* | present | Sheep |  | donkeys |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent donkey=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | Sheep *not said here* |  |  |  |  | calm *property* | tree rules |

<!-- 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: [Horses, zebras and donkeys, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/t9/)
- next →: [Horses, zebras and donkeys, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/t11/)
- ↑ back to [Horses, zebras and donkeys](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/)