---
title: Why could a blue whale never have lived on land at its size? — Whales · tree and pragmatics
description: Why could a blue whale never have lived on land at its size? Test 4 · ★★ of lesson 26 «Whales» 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.
---

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# Test 4 · ★★ · Whales

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why could a blue whale never have lived on land at its size?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **What happens:** not live · **To what, where:** land

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★★ of lesson 26 «Whales» 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/26-whales/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t4:1
# text = Why could a blue whale never have lived on land at its size?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	lived	live	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **live** | could · perfect |  |  |  | land |  | at whale's size | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at size=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 -->
Land is too warm for blue whales

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t4:o1:1
# text = Land is too warm for blue whales
1	Land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	whales	whale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Land |  |  |  |  | for blue whales; warm *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would get lost on land without the ocean currents to guide it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t4:o2:1
# text = It would get lost on land without the ocean currents to guide it
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	get	get	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	without	without	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	ocean	ocean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	currents	current	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	guide	guide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | would · passive |  | It |  | land |  | without the ocean currents | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **guide** | to-infinitive |  | land |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Water supports its weight, and on land its body would crush itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t4:o3:1
# text = Water supports its weight, and on land its body would crush itself
1	Water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	supports	support	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
9	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	crush	crush	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
13	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **support** | present | Water | Water's weight |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer weight=Stimulus |
| 2 | **crush** | would | Water's body | body |  | land |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its baleen would grow too long

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t4:o4:1
# text = Its baleen would grow too long
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	baleen	baleen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
```

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

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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.

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