---
title: Why can a crocodile go months without eating, but you can't? — Crocodiles and alligators · tree and pragmatics
description: Why can a crocodile go months without eating, but you can't? Test 7 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 right.
---

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# Test 7 · Crocodiles and alligators

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why can a crocodile go months without eating, but you can't?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** crocodile · **What happens:** go, eat

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This is test 7 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t7:1
# text = Why can a crocodile go months without eating, but you can't?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | can | a crocodile |  |  |  | month |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund | a crocodile *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: 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 -->
You could too if you tried

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t7:o1:1
# text = You could too if you tried
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | could | You |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crocodiles store extra food in their thick tails for later

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t7:o2:1
# text = Crocodiles store extra food in their thick tails for later
1	Crocodiles	crocodile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	store	store	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	extra	extra	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **store** | present | Crocodiles | extra food |  | Crocodiles's thick tails |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent food=Theme in tail=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crocodiles eat stones instead

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t7:o3:1
# text = Crocodiles eat stones instead
1	Crocodiles	crocodile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | Crocodiles | stones |  |  |  | instead *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stone=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cold-blooded animals use much less energy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:29-crocodiles-and-alligators:t7:o4:1
# text = Cold-blooded animals use much less energy
1	Cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	blooded	blooded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	amod	_	_
8	energy	energy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present | blooded animals | less energy |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent energy=Patient |

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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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/29-crocodiles-and-alligators/t6/)
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