---
title: Why do birds sing more in spring than in autumn? — The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do birds sing more in spring than in autumn? Test 10 of lesson 333 «The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn, queen bumblebees and nesting birds» 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 10 · The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn, queen bumblebees an…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do birds sing more in spring than in autumn?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** birds · **What happens:** sing · **To what, where:** more

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 333 «The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn, queen bumblebees and nesting birds» 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/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t10:1
# text = Why do birds sing more in spring than in autumn?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	autumn	autumn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | present · do-support | birds | more |  |  | autumn; spring |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location more=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 -->
Birds lose their voices in autumn, when the cold air hurts their throats

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t10:o1:1
# text = Birds lose their voices in autumn, when the cold air hurts their throats
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|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	voices	voice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	autumn	autumn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	hurts	hurt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	throats	throat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | present | Birds | Birds's voices |  |  | autumn |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent voice=Eventuality |
| 2 | **hurt** | present | the cold air | Birds's throats |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer throat=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The air is too thick in autumn

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t10:o2:1
# text = The air is too thick in autumn
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	autumn	autumn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Spring is when they claim patches and find partners for nesting

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t10:o3:1
# text = Spring is when they claim patches and find partners for nesting
1	Spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	claim	claim	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	patches	patch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	find	find	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
9	partners	partner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	nesting	nesting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | they |  |  |  | spring | claim *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | present | they *not said here* | partners |  |  |  | for nesting | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent partner=Theme for nesting=Beneficiary |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds are too sleepy in spring to be quiet

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t10:o4:1
# text = Birds are too sleepy in spring to be quiet
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	sleepy	sleepy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Birds |  |  |  | spring | sleepy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | Birds *not said here* |  |  |  |  | quiet *property* | tree rules |

<!-- 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: [The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn,…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/t9/)
- next →: [The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn,…, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/t11/)
- ↑ back to [The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn, queen bumblebees and nesting birds](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds/)