---
title: «a locust swarm, so what, it's a few grasshoppers» What is the danger? — Insects as food in other countries · tree and pragmatics
description: «a locust swarm, so what, it's a few grasshoppers» What is the danger? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 290 «Insects as food in other countries» 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 9 · ★ · Insects as food in other countries

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«a locust swarm, so what, it's a few grasshoppers» What is the danger?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** swarm, locust swarm · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** few grasshoppers, danger

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 290 «Insects as food in other countries» 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/290-insects-as-food-in-other-countries/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:290-insects-as-food-in-other-countries:t9:1
# text = «a locust swarm, so what, it's a few grasshoppers» What is the danger?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	locust	locust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	swarm	swarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	grasshoppers	grasshopper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
15	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | swarm | a few grasshoppers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | a locust swarm | the danger |  |  |  |  | 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A big swarm can eat as much food in a day as millions of people

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:290-insects-as-food-in-other-countries:t9:o1:1
# text = A big swarm can eat as much food in a day as millions of people
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	swarm	swarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	as	as	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	millions	million	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | can | a big swarm | much food |  |  | day | as millions of people | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Swarms are always tiny

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:290-insects-as-food-in-other-countries:t9:o2:1
# text = Swarms are always tiny
1	Swarms	swarm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Swarms |  |  |  |  | always, tiny *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Locusts only eat wood

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:290-insects-as-food-in-other-countries:t9:o3:1
# text = Locusts only eat wood
1	Locusts	locust	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Locusts eat only other insects, so a swarm keeps the crops safe from pests

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:290-insects-as-food-in-other-countries:t9:o4:1
# text = Locusts eat only other insects, so a swarm keeps the crops safe from pests
1	Locusts	locust	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	swarm	swarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	crops	crop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	xcomp	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	pests	pest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | Locusts | other insects |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent insect=Patient |
| 2 | **keep** | present | a swarm | the crops |  |  |  | safe *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crop=Theme |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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