---
title: Why did American alligators recover after being endangered? — Crocodiles and alligators · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did American alligators recover after being endangered? Test 10 of lesson 29 «Crocodiles and alligators» 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 10 · Crocodiles and alligators

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did American alligators recover after being endangered?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** American alligators · **What happens:** do, recover, endanger

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This is test 10 of lesson 29 «Crocodiles and alligators» 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/29-crocodiles-and-alligators/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t10:1
# text = Why did American alligators recover after being endangered?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	alligators	alligator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	recover	recover	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	endangered	endanger	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **recover** | present | American alligators |  |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **endanger** | gerund · passive | American alligators *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hunting was controlled

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t10:o1:1
# text = Hunting was controlled
1	Hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	controlled	control	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **control** | past · passive |  | Hunting |  |  |  |  | vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They started laying more eggs in cities

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t10:o2:1
# text = They started laying more eggs in cities
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	laying	lay	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | past | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **lay** | gerund | They *not said here* | more eggs |  | cities |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent egg=Theme in city=Destination |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They learned to live in the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t10:o3:1
# text = They learned to live in the sea
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | past | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **live** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sea=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People fed them every day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t10:o4:1
# text = People fed them every day
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	fed	feed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feed** | past | People | them *= they* |  |  | day |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |

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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: [Crocodiles and alligators, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/29-crocodiles-and-alligators/t9/)
- next →: [Crocodiles and alligators, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/29-crocodiles-and-alligators/t11/)
- ↑ back to [Crocodiles and alligators](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/29-crocodiles-and-alligators/)