---
title: Why would a nest need mud as well as grass? — The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a nest need mud as well as grass? Test 9 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 9 · The garden in spring: buds, frogspawn, queen bumblebees an…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a nest need mud as well as grass?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** nest · **What happens:** need · **To what, where:** mud

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t9:1
# text = Why would a nest need mud as well as grass?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	10	cc	_	_
8	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	fixed	_	_
9	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	fixed	_	_
10	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | would | a nest | mud |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot mud=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 -->
Mud keeps the eggs cold

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t9:o1:1
# text = Mud keeps the eggs cold
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | Mud | the eggs |  |  |  | cold *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mud holds the grass together like glue and makes the cup strong

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t9:o2:1
# text = Mud holds the grass together like glue and makes the cup strong
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	glue	glue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cup	cup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present | Mud | the grass |  |  |  | like glue; together *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | present | Mud *not said here* | the cup |  |  |  | strong *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset cup=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mud is food for the chicks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t9:o3:1
# text = Mud is food for the chicks
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	chicks	chick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | Mud food |  |  |  | for the chicks | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mud makes the nest invisible at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:333-the-garden-in-spring-buds-frogspawn-queen-bumblebees-and-nesting-birds:t9:o4:1
# text = Mud makes the nest invisible at night
1	Mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	invisible	invisible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Mud | the nest |  |  | night | invisible *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset nest=Product |

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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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