---
title: What would happen if an owl had flight feathers as stiff and smooth… — How owls work: silent wings, turning h… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if an owl had flight feathers as stiff and smooth as a pigeon's? Test 7 · ★ 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; 
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and ow…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if an owl had flight feathers as stiff and smooth as a pigeon's?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** owl · **What happens:** happen, have · **To what, where:** flight feathers

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ 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/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t7:1
# text = What would happen if an owl had flight feathers as stiff and smooth as a pigeon's?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
14	as	as	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	pigeon	pigeon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	's	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a owl | flight feathers |  |  |  | as stiff | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feather=Patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would stop needing to hunt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t7:o1:1
# text = It would stop needing to hunt
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	needing	need	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	hunt	hunt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **need** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **hunt** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mice would hear it coming and escape more often

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t7:o2:1
# text = Mice would hear it coming and escape more often
1	Mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	coming	come	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
8	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
9	often	often	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | would | Mice | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **escape** | infinitive | Mice *not said here* |  |  |  |  | often *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would fly in total silence

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t7:o3:1
# text = It would fly in total silence
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	total	total	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | would | It |  |  | total silence |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in silence=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would see much better at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths:t7:o4:1
# text = It would see much better at night
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | would | It |  |  |  | night | good *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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- ↑ back to [How owls work: silent wings, turning heads, pellets and owl myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths/)