---
title: Why don't painted turtles drown during months under the ice of a pond? — Turtles and tortoises · tree and pragmatics
description: Why don't painted turtles drown during months under the ice of a pond? Test 8 of lesson 31 «Turtles and tortoises» 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 8 · Turtles and tortoises

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why don't painted turtles drown during months under the ice of a pond?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** painted turtles · **What happens:** not paint, drown · **To what, where:** ice

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 31 «Turtles and tortoises» 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/31-turtles-and-tortoises/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t8:1
# text = Why don't painted turtles drown during months under the ice of a pond?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	painted	paint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	turtles	turtle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	drown	drown	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	during	during	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
9	under	under	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **paint** | present · do-support |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **drown** | present | painted turtles |  |  | the ice of a pond | month |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: 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 -->
They come up every night through holes that they break in the ice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t8:o1:1
# text = They come up every night through holes that they break in the ice
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	up	up	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	det	_	_
5	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	break	break	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come up** | present | They |  |  | holes | night |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through hole=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **break** | present | holes *= hole* |  |  | the ice |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in ice=Location |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cold slows their bodies so they need almost no oxygen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t8:o2:1
# text = Cold slows their bodies so they need almost no oxygen
1	Cold	cold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	slows	slow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
8	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slow** | present | Cold | their bodies |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent body=Patient |
| 2 | **need** | present | bodies *= body* | no oxygen |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot oxygen=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They have lungs as big as a whale's

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t8:o3:1
# text = They have lungs as big as a whale's
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	lungs	lung	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	as	as	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
6	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | They | lungs |  |  |  | big *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lung=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They sleep inside a bubble of air

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t8:o4:1
# text = They sleep inside a bubble of air
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sleep	sleep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bubble	bubble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sleep** | present | They |  |  | a bubble of air |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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