---
title: Why might an owl bob and sway its head when it looks at you? — How owls work: silent wings, turning h… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might an owl bob and sway its head when it looks at you? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 302 «How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and owl myths» 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 wro
---

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# Test 10 · ★ · How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and ow…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might an owl bob and sway its head when it looks at you?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** owl bob, bob · **What happens:** sway, look · **To what, where:** head

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 302 «How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and owl myths» 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/302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t10:1
# text = Why might an owl bob and sway its head when it looks at you?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	bob	bob	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	sway	sway	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sway** | might | a owl bob | bob's head |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location head=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | present | bob |  |  |  |  | at you | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at you=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 -->
Because it is dancing to some music only it can hear

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t10:o1:1
# text = Because it is dancing to some music only it can hear
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	music	music	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dance** | present · progressive | it |  |  | some music |  |  | vn waltz-51.5 «NP V PP.trajectory PP.goal»: agent=Theme to music=Trajectory |
| 2 | **hear** | can | music |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because its neck is aching

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t10:o2:1
# text = Because its neck is aching
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	aching	ache	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ache** | present · progressive | its neck |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To judge how far away you are from different views

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t10:o3:1
# text = To judge how far away you are from different views
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	judge	judge	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	views	view	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **judge** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | you |  |  | different views |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because its eyes roll around inside

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t10:o4:1
# text = Because its eyes roll around inside
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	roll	roll	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	around	around	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roll around** | present | its eyes |  |  |  |  | around, inside *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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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