---
title: What would happen to a whale calf if it were born head first and the… — Whales · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to a whale calf if it were born head first and the birth took a long time? Test 5 · ★★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 5 · ★★ · Whales

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to a whale calf if it were born head first and the birth took a long time?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** birth · **What happens:** happen, bear, take · **To what, where:** calf

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This is test 5 · ★★ 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/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t5:1
# text = What would happen to a whale calf if it were born head first and the birth took a long time?
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	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
12	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	xcomp	_	_
13	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	11	advmod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to a whale calf | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **bear** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | calf |  |  |  | first *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **take** | past | the birth |  |  |  | time |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
It would breathe through its skin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t5:o1:1
# text = It would breathe through its skin
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **breathe** | would | It |  |  | its skin |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It might drown before it could breathe

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t5:o2:1
# text = It might drown before it could breathe
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	drown	drown	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drown** | might | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **breathe** | could | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would swim away at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t5:o3:1
# text = It would swim away at once
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	swim	swim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swim away** | would | It |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=Trajectory |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, whale calves can breathe under water for days

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t5:o4:1
# text = Nothing, whale calves can breathe under water for days
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	calves	calf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
7	under	under	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **breathe** | can | whale calves |  |  | water | day |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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