---
title: What would happen if thousands of children counted garden birds ever… — How scientists find out: naturalists,… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if thousands of children counted garden birds every year? Test 11 of lesson 264 «How scientists find out: naturalists, Darwin, the microscope and wildlife filming» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Test 11 · How scientists find out: naturalists, Darwin, the microsco…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if thousands of children counted garden birds every year?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **What happens:** happen, count · **To what, where:** thousands

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This is test 11 of lesson 264 «How scientists find out: naturalists, Darwin, the microscope and wildlife filming» 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/264-how-scientists-find-out-naturalists-darwin-the-microscope-and-wildlife-filming/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:264-how-scientists-find-out-naturalists-darwin-the-microscope-and-wildlife-filming:t11:1
# text = What would happen if thousands of children counted garden birds every year?
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	_	8	mark	_	_
5	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
8	counted	count	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
9	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  | year |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **count** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle · passive |  | thousands of children |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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 birds would leave the gardens

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:264-how-scientists-find-out-naturalists-darwin-the-microscope-and-wildlife-filming:t11:o1:1
# text = The birds would leave the gardens
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	birds	bird	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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	gardens	garden	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | would | the birds | the gardens |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent garden=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The counts would be useless because children made them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:264-how-scientists-find-out-naturalists-darwin-the-microscope-and-wildlife-filming:t11:o2:1
# text = The counts would be useless because children made them
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	counts	count	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | the counts |  |  |  |  | useless *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | past | children | counts *= count* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Product |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Scientists could see how bird numbers change over time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:264-how-scientists-find-out-naturalists-darwin-the-microscope-and-wildlife-filming:t11:o3:1
# text = Scientists could see how bird numbers change over time
1	Scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
5	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
8	over	over	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | could | Scientists |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **change** | present | bird numbers |  |  |  | time |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Every count would be exactly the same

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:264-how-scientists-find-out-naturalists-darwin-the-microscope-and-wildlife-filming:t11:o4:1
# text = Every count would be exactly the same
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	count	count	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
5	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | every count |  |  |  |  | exactly, same *property* | tree rules |

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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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