---
title: What would happen if a hummingbird's wings beat only once a second? — Birds of every kind: penguins, ostrich… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a hummingbird's wings beat only once a second? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 35 «Birds of every kind: penguins, ostriches, parrots, hummingbirds, songbirds, crows» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option;
---

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# Test 5 · ★★ · Birds of every kind: penguins, ostriches, parrots, humming…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a hummingbird's wings beat only once a second?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** wings · **What happens:** happen, beat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 35 «Birds of every kind: penguins, ostriches, parrots, hummingbirds, songbirds, crows» 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/35-birds-of-every-kind/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:t5:1
# text = What would happen if a hummingbird's wings beat only once a second?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hummingbird	hummingbird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	beat	beat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	9	advmod	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	second	second	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **beat** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | a hummingbird's wings |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would hover even better

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:t5:o1:1
# text = It would hover even better
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hover	hover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hover** | would | It |  |  |  |  | good *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It could not hover in front of a flower

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:t5:o2:1
# text = It could not hover in front of a flower
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	hover	hover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **hover** | could | It |  |  | front of a flower |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in front=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would fly backwards much faster than before

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:t5:o3:1
# text = It would fly backwards much faster than before
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	before	before	ADV	RB	_	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | would | It |  |  |  |  | backwards, fast *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing would change

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:35-birds-of-every-kind:t5:o4:1
# text = Nothing would change
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | would | Nothing |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [Birds of every kind: penguins, ostrich…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/35-birds-of-every-kind/t4/)
- next →: [Birds of every kind: penguins, ostrich…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/35-birds-of-every-kind/t6/)
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