---
title: Why might noisy ships harm a porpoise even if they never hit it? — China's great rivers: the finless porp… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might noisy ships harm a porpoise even if they never hit it? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 379 «China's great rivers: the finless porpoise, the lost baiji, Chinese alligators and sturgeon» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of eac
---

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# Test 11 · ★★ · China's great rivers: the finless porpoise, the lost baiji…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might noisy ships harm a porpoise even if they never hit it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** noisy ships, ships · **What happens:** harm, not hit · **To what, where:** porpoise

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 379 «China's great rivers: the finless porpoise, the lost baiji, Chinese alligators and sturgeon» 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/379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:t11:1
# text = Why might noisy ships harm a porpoise even if they never hit it?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	noisy	noisy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	harm	harm	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	porpoise	porpoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	even	even	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	hit	hit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **harm** | present | noisy ships | a porpoise |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus porpoise=Experiencer |
| 2 | **not** **hit** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | ships *= ship* | porpoise |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Co-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 -->
Noise makes the river water too warm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:t11:o1:1
# text = Noise makes the river water too warm
1	Noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
7	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Porpoises hate the colour of ships

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:t11:o2:1
# text = Porpoises hate the colour of ships
1	Porpoises	porpoise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hate	hate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hate** | present | Porpoises | the colour of ships |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer colour=Stimulus |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It clicks to find fish, and engine noise can drown out the echoes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:t11:o3:1
# text = It clicks to find fish, and engine noise can drown out the echoes
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	clicks	click	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	engine	engine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	drown	drown	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	echoes	echo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **click** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | to-infinitive |  | fish |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Topic |
| 3 | **drown out** | can | engine noise | the echoes |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent echo=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ships drink up the river

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon:t11:o4:1
# text = Ships drink up the river
1	Ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	drink	drink	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink up** | present | Ships | the river |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent river=Patient |

<!-- 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 -->

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