---
title: A prairie dog town has many eyes and many holes. Why is that safer? — Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marm… · tree and pragmatics
description: A prairie dog town has many eyes and many holes. Why is that safer? Test 9 of lesson 317 «Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marmots, prairie dogs, porcupines, chinchillas and dormice» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each 
---

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# Test 9 · Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marmots, prairie dogs, p…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A prairie dog town has many eyes and many holes. Why is that safer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** dog town · **What happens:** have, be · **To what, where:** many eyes

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This is test 9 of lesson 317 «Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marmots, prairie dogs, porcupines, chinchillas and dormice» 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/317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A prairie dog town has many eyes and many holes.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t9:1
# text = A prairie dog town has many eyes and many holes.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	prairie	prairie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | a dog town | many eyes and many holes |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why is that safer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t9:2
# text = Why is that safer?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	safer	safe	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Someone spots danger quickly and everyone has a hole close by

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t9:o1:1
# text = Someone spots danger quickly and everyone has a hole close by
1	Someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
2	spots	spot	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	7	nsubj	_	_
7	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spot** | present | Someone | danger |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent danger=Destination |
| 2 | **have** | present | everyone | a hole |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hole=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The holes are full of water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t9:o2:1
# text = The holes are full of water
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the holes |  |  |  |  | of water; full *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Big towns have no predators near them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t9:o3:1
# text = Big towns have no predators near them
1	Big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	towns	town	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	predators	predator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	near	near	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Big towns | no predators |  |  |  | near predators *= predator* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent predator=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Predators get muddled and cannot count how many holes there are

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t9:o4:1
# text = Predators get muddled and cannot count how many holes there are
1	Predators	predator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	get	get	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	muddled	muddle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	count	count	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
8	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
9	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **muddle** | present · passive |  | Predators |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **count** | can |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **does** | present | many holes |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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