---
title: Why do you think scientists study the up-and-down beat of a whale's… — Whales · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do you think scientists study the up-and-down beat of a whale's tail as a clue to its past? Test 7 · ★★ 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 7 · ★★ · Whales

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do you think scientists study the up-and-down beat of a whale's tail as a clue to its past?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, scientists · **What happens:** think, study · **To what, where:** up · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 7 · ★★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t7:1
# text = Why do you think scientists study the up-and-down beat of a whale's tail as a clue to its past?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	study	study	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	up	up	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	down	down	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	beat	beat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	's	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
19	as	as	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	clue	clue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	past	past	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **study** | present | scientists | the up |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent up=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Whales copied it from fish

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t7:o1:1
# text = Whales copied it from fish
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	copied	copy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **copy** | past | Whales | it |  |  |  | from fish | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is how its land-running ancestors' backbones bent

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t7:o2:1
# text = It is how its land-running ancestors' backbones bent
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
5	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	running	run	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	amod	_	_
8	ancestors	ancestor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	backbones	backbone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	bent	bend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | how *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **run** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **bend** | participle · passive |  | its running backbones |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: subject=Material |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It shows how deep the whale can dive

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t7:o3:1
# text = It shows how deep the whale can dive
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
4	deep	deep	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	dive	dive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **dive** | can | the whale |  |  |  |  | deep *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is the only way to swim at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:26-whales:t7:o4:1
# text = It is the only way to swim at all
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	swim	swim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | the only way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **swim** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | all |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at all=Trajectory |

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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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