---
title: Why is soaring cheaper for a big bird than flapping? — White storks: Ukraine's favourite bird… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is soaring cheaper for a big bird than flapping? Test 8 of lesson 375 «White storks: Ukraine's favourite birds and their journey to Africa» 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 8 · White storks: Ukraine's favourite birds and their journey…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is soaring cheaper for a big bird than flapping?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **What happens:** soar, flap

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 375 «White storks: Ukraine's favourite birds and their journey to Africa» 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/375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa:t8:1
# text = Why is soaring cheaper for a big bird than flapping?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	soaring	soar	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	csubj	_	_
4	cheaper	cheap	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	flapping	flap	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **soar** | present · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **flap** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn body\_internal\_motion-49.1 «NP V»: 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 -->
Big birds cannot flap at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa:t8:o1:1
# text = Big birds cannot flap at all
1	Big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	flap	flap	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **flap** | can | Big birds |  |  | all |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at all=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Soaring is faster than any plane, so it saves time on the journey

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa:t8:o2:1
# text = Soaring is faster than any plane, so it saves time on the journey
1	Soaring	soaring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	faster	fast	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	plane	plane	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	saves	save	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Soaring |  |  |  |  | than any plane; fast *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **save** | present | Soaring |  |  | the journey | time |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent on journey=Source |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rising warm air lifts it, so it hardly beats its wings

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa:t8:o3:1
# text = Rising warm air lifts it, so it hardly beats its wings
1	Rising	rise	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	csubj	_	_
2	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	lifts	lift	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	beats	beat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rise** | gerund |  | warm air |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location air=Theme |
| 2 | **lift** | present | Rising | air |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **beat** | present | air | air's wings |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wing=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Flapping makes storks lighter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa:t8:o4:1
# text = Flapping makes storks lighter
1	Flapping	flapping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	storks	stork	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Flapping | storks |  |  |  | light *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset stork=Product |

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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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- ← previous: [White storks: Ukraine's favourite bird…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa/t7/)
- next →: [White storks: Ukraine's favourite bird…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa/t9/)
- ↑ back to [White storks: Ukraine's favourite birds and their journey to Africa](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/375-white-storks-ukraine-s-favourite-birds-and-their-journey-to-africa/)