---
title: «why do swallows sit on wires all bunched up, they're just bored» Wh… — The garden in autumn: colours, conkers… · tree and pragmatics
description: «why do swallows sit on wires all bunched up, they're just bored» What are they really doing? Test 10 · ★★ of lesson 335 «The garden in autumn: colours, conkers, webs and buried nuts» 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 10 · ★★ · The garden in autumn: colours, conkers, webs and buried nuts

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«why do swallows sit on wires all bunched up, they're just bored» What are they really doing?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** swallows · **What happens:** sit, bunch up, be, do · **To what, where:** wires

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 335 «The garden in autumn: colours, conkers, webs and buried nuts» 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/335-the-garden-in-autumn-colours-conkers-webs-and-buried-nuts/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:335-the-garden-in-autumn-colours-conkers-webs-and-buried-nuts:t10:1
# text = «why do swallows sit on wires all bunched up, they're just bored» What are they really doing?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	swallows	swallow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	wires	wire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
8	all	all	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	bunched	bunch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
10	up	up	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	're	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	just	just	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	bored	bored	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
17	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	21	obj	_	_
18	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	really	really	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** *in a quote* | present · do-support | swallows |  |  | wires |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on wire=Location |
| 2 | **bunch up** *in a quote* | participle |  | wires *not said here* |  |  |  | all *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | swallows *= swallow* |  |  |  |  | bored *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **do** | present · progressive | swallows *= swallow* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 -->
Waiting for the snow to come

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:335-the-garden-in-autumn-colours-conkers-webs-and-buried-nuts:t10:o1:1
# text = Waiting for the snow to come
1	Waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for the snow | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **come** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gathering before flying to Africa for the winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:335-the-garden-in-autumn-colours-conkers-webs-and-buried-nuts:t10:o2:1
# text = Gathering before flying to Africa for the winter
1	Gathering	gather	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
3	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Africa	Africa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gather** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fly** | gerund |  |  | Africa |  | winter |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to africa=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Listening for worms under the road

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:335-the-garden-in-autumn-colours-conkers-webs-and-buried-nuts:t10:o3:1
# text = Listening for worms under the road
1	Listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	worms	worm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
4	under	under	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | gerund |  |  |  | the road |  | for worms | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for worm=Theme under road=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Drying their feathers in the sun after a long bath in the pond

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:335-the-garden-in-autumn-colours-conkers-webs-and-buried-nuts:t10:o4:1
# text = Drying their feathers in the sun after a long bath in the pond
1	Drying	dry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
7	after	after	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	bath	bath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dry** | gerund |  | their feathers |  | the sun | after a long bath | in the pond | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient feather=Result |

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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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