---
title: Why would you keep laying ducks in their house until mid-morning? — Farm animals by numbers: stomachs, hoo… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would you keep laying ducks in their house until mid-morning? Test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 350 «Farm animals by numbers: stomachs, hooves, toes, eggs and litres» 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 wa
---

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# Test 9 · ★★★ · Farm animals by numbers: stomachs, hooves, toes, eggs and…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would you keep laying ducks in their house until mid-morning?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** keep, lay · **To what, where:** laying ducks, house

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 350 «Farm animals by numbers: stomachs, hooves, toes, eggs and litres» 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/350-farm-animals-by-numbers-stomachs-hooves-toes-eggs-and-litres/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:350-farm-animals-by-numbers-stomachs-hooves-toes-eggs-and-litres:t9:1
# text = Why would you keep laying ducks in their house until mid-morning?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	laying	lay	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	amod	_	_
6	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	until	until	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	mid-morning	mid-morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | would | you | laying ducks |  | ducks's house | until mid-morning |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent duck=Theme in house=Location |
| 2 | **lay** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
Ducks sleep until noon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:350-farm-animals-by-numbers-stomachs-hooves-toes-eggs-and-litres:t9:o1:1
# text = Ducks sleep until noon
1	Ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sleep	sleep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	until	until	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	noon	noon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sleep** | present | Ducks |  |  |  | noon |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They lay early in the morning, so the eggs end up in the house, not lost in the field

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:350-farm-animals-by-numbers-stomachs-hooves-toes-eggs-and-litres:t9:o2:1
# text = They lay early in the morning, so the eggs end up in the house, not lost in the field
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	end	end	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	up	up	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lay** | present | They |  |  |  | morning | early *property* | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **end up** | present | the eggs |  |  |  |  | in the house *result* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in house=Result |
| 3 | **not** **lose** | participle | They *not said here* |  |  | the field |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S\_ING»: agent=Agent in field=Eventuality |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The eggs hatch if laid outside

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:350-farm-animals-by-numbers-stomachs-hooves-toes-eggs-and-litres:t9:o3:1
# text = The eggs hatch if laid outside
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hatch	hatch	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hatch** | present | the eggs |  |  |  |  |  | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **lay** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | the eggs *not said here* |  |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ducks are afraid of the morning sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:350-farm-animals-by-numbers-stomachs-hooves-toes-eggs-and-litres:t9:o4:1
# text = Ducks are afraid of the morning sun
1	Ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Ducks |  |  |  |  | of the morning sun; afraid *property* | tree rules |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ↑ back to [Farm animals by numbers: stomachs, hooves, toes, eggs and litres](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/350-farm-animals-by-numbers-stomachs-hooves-toes-eggs-and-litres/)