---
title: Why do vultures circle over the savannah in the middle of a hot day,… — Birds of prey and owls · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do vultures circle over the savannah in the middle of a hot day, not at dawn? Test 7 · ★ 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 right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/34-birds-of-prey-and-owls/t7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [Birds of prey and owls](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/34-birds-of-prey-and-owls/) / t7

# Test 7 · ★ · Birds of prey and owls

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do vultures circle over the savannah in the middle of a hot day, not at dawn?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** vultures · **What happens:** circle · **To what, where:** savannah

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 34 «Birds of prey and owls» 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/34-birds-of-prey-and-owls/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:t7:1
# text = Why do vultures circle over the savannah in the middle of a hot day, not at dawn?
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	vultures	vulture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	circle	circle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	over	over	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	savannah	savannah	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **circle** | present · do-support | vultures |  |  | the savannah | dawn | in the middle of a hot day | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=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 -->
Dead animals only ever appear at noon, when the sun is high

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:t7:o1:1
# text = Dead animals only ever appear at noon, when the sun is high
1	Dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	5	advmod	_	_
5	appear	appear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	noon	noon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appear** | present | Dead animals |  |  |  | ever; noon |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | the sun |  |  |  |  | high *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hot ground makes the rising air they need

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:t7:o2:1
# text = The hot ground makes the rising air they need
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	rising	rise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	amod	_	_
7	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | the hot ground | the rising air |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset air=Product |
| 2 | **rise** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **need** | present | they | the rising air *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot air=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are hiding from the sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:t7:o3:1
# text = They are hiding from the sun
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hiding	hide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | present · progressive | They |  |  | the sun |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent from sun=Beneficiary |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They cannot see in the morning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:34-birds-of-prey-and-owls:t7:o4:1
# text = They cannot see in the morning
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | can | They |  |  |  | morning |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Birds of prey and owls, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/34-birds-of-prey-and-owls/t6/)
- next →: [Birds of prey and owls, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/34-birds-of-prey-and-owls/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Birds of prey and owls](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/34-birds-of-prey-and-owls/)