---
title: A seal swims fast through dark water and catches a fish it can't see… — Dolphins, porpoises and seals · tree and pragmatics
description: A seal swims fast through dark water and catches a fish it can't see. Which sense helps most? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 27 «Dolphins, porpoises and seals» 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 8 · ★ · Dolphins, porpoises and seals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A seal swims fast through dark water and catches a fish it can't see. Which sense helps most?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** seal, sense · **What happens:** swim, catch, not see, help · **To what, where:** dark water, fish

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 27 «Dolphins, porpoises and seals» 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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A seal swims fast through dark water and catches a fish it can't see.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:t8:1
# text = A seal swims fast through dark water and catches a fish it can't see.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	seal	seal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	swims	swim	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	catches	catch	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swim** | present | a seal |  |  | dark water |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through water=Trajectory |
| 2 | **catch** | present | a seal *not said here* | a fish |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **see** | can | seal | a fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fish=Stimulus |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Which sense helps most?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:t8:2
# text = Which sense helps most?
1	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	2	det	_	_
2	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	helps	help	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | present | which sense |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Smell, under water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:t8:o1:1
# text = Smell, under water
1	Smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	under	under	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Taste, through its flippers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:t8:o2:1
# text = Taste, through its flippers
1	Taste	taste	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	through	through	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	flippers	flipper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Touch, through its whiskers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:t8:o3:1
# text = Touch, through its whiskers
1	Touch	touch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	through	through	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	whiskers	whisker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sight, with night vision

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals:t8:o4:1
# text = Sight, with night vision
1	Sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	vision	vision	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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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- ← previous: [Dolphins, porpoises and seals, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t7/)
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