---
title: Identify the principal reason for which an owl rotates its head rath… — Birds of prey and owls · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which an owl rotates its head rather than its eyes. Exam question 1 of lesson 34 «Birds of prey and owls» 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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# Exam question 1 · Birds of prey and owls

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which an owl rotates its head rather than its eyes.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, owl · **What happens:** identify, rotate · **To what, where:** principal reason, head

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 1 of lesson 34 «Birds of prey and owls» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/34-birds-of-prey-and-owls/#e1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:e1:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which an owl rotates its head rather than its eyes.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	rotates	rotate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	15	cc	_	_
13	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	fixed	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **rotate** | present | a owl | owl's head |  |  |  | for the principal reason | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location head=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The neck possesses no bones

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:e1:o1:1
# text = The neck possesses no bones
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | the neck | no bones |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot bone=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The eyes are sensitive to rotation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:e1:o2:1
# text = The eyes are sensitive to rotation
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	sensitive	sensitive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	rotation	rotation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The eyes are tubular and fixed within the skull

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:e1:o3:1
# text = The eyes are tubular and fixed within the skull
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	tubular	tubular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
7	within	within	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	skull	skull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the eyes |  |  |  |  | tubular *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fix** | participle | the eyes *not said here* |  |  |  |  | within the skull | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The eyes are entirely absent in the nocturnal species

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:e1:o4:1
# text = The eyes are entirely absent in the nocturnal species
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	absent	absent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	nocturnal	nocturnal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	species	species	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the eyes |  |  | the nocturnal species |  | absent, entirely *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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