---
title: Why do insects stay so small today? — Insects: six legs, three parts; ants,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do insects stay so small today? Test 6 of lesson 36 «Insects: six legs, three parts; ants, bees and wasps» 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.
---

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# Test 6 · Insects: six legs, three parts; ants, bees and wasps

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do insects stay so small today?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** insects · **What happens:** stay

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 of lesson 36 «Insects: six legs, three parts; ants, bees and wasps» 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/36-insects-six-legs-ants-bees-and-wasps/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:36-insects-six-legs-ants-bees-and-wasps:t6:1
# text = Why do insects stay so small today?
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	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
7	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | present · do-support | insects |  |  |  | today | small *property* | vn exist-47.1 «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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Air moving through tubes only works over short distances

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:36-insects-six-legs-ants-bees-and-wasps:t6:o1:1
# text = Air moving through tubes only works over short distances
1	Air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
2	moving	move	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
3	through	through	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	tubes	tube	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	over	over	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	distances	distance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | gerund | Air *not said here* |  |  | tubes |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme through tube=Trajectory |
| 2 | **work over** | present | Air | short distances |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They stop growing on purpose, so that birds will not see them in the grass

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:36-insects-six-legs-ants-bees-and-wasps:t6:o2:1
# text = They stop growing on purpose, so that birds will not see them in the grass
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	12	mark	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	fixed	_	_
9	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
10	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **grow** | gerund | They *not said here* |  |  | purpose |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on purpose=Location |
| 3 | **not** **see** | future | birds | them *= they* |  | the grass |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds keep them small

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:36-insects-six-legs-ants-bees-and-wasps:t6:o3:1
# text = Birds keep them small
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present | Birds | them *= they* |  |  |  | small *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They do not eat enough

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:36-insects-six-legs-ants-bees-and-wasps:t6:o4:1
# text = They do not eat enough
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **eat** | present · do-support | They |  |  |  |  | enough *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «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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- next →: [Insects: six legs, three parts; ants,…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/36-insects-six-legs-ants-bees-and-wasps/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Insects: six legs, three parts; ants, bees and wasps](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/36-insects-six-legs-ants-bees-and-wasps/)