---
title: What would happen if a frog were kept in a dry box with no water for… — Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a frog were kept in a dry box with no water for days? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 32 «Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a frog were kept in a dry box with no water for days?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** happen, keep · **To what, where:** frog, dry box

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 32 «Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders» 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/32-frogs-toads-newts-and-salamanders/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:32-frogs-toads-newts-and-salamanders:t4:1
# text = What would happen if a frog were kept in a dry box with no water for days?
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	_	8	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	15	det	_	_
15	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	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 | **keep** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | a frog |  | a dry box with no water | day |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in box=Location |

<!-- .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 turn back into a tadpole

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:32-frogs-toads-newts-and-salamanders:t4:o1:1
# text = It would turn back into a tadpole
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	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	back	back	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tadpole	tadpole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn back** | would | It |  |  |  |  | into a tadpole | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would grow a hard shell

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:32-frogs-toads-newts-and-salamanders:t4:o2:1
# text = It would grow a hard shell
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	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | It | a hard shell |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location shell=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing at all, as frogs only need water when they are tadpoles

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:32-frogs-toads-newts-and-salamanders:t4:o3:1
# text = Nothing at all, as frogs only need water when they are tadpoles
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	frogs	frog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	tadpoles	tadpole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | Nothing | water |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot water=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | present | frogs *= frog* | tadpoles |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its skin would dry and it could not breathe or drink properly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:32-frogs-toads-newts-and-salamanders:t4:o4:1
# text = Its skin would dry and it could not breathe or drink properly
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	dry	dry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
12	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dry** | would | Its skin |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **breathe** | could | skin |  |  |  |  | properly *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **drink** | infinitive | skin *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- 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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- ← previous: [Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/32-frogs-toads-newts-and-salamanders/t3/)
- next →: [Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/32-frogs-toads-newts-and-salamanders/t5/)
- ↑ back to [Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/32-frogs-toads-newts-and-salamanders/)