---
title: Identify the principal reason for which the duration of sleep attrib… — How animals sleep: half-asleep dolphin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Identify the principal reason for which the duration of sleep attributed to sloths was formerly overstated. Exam question 3 of lesson 390 «How animals sleep: half-asleep dolphins, standing horses, short-sleeping giraffes and birds that nap in the air» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, 
---

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# Exam question 3 · How animals sleep: half-asleep dolphins, standing horses,…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Identify the principal reason for which the duration of sleep attributed to sloths was formerly overstated.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** identify, attribute, overstate · **To what, where:** principal reason, duration

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 390 «How animals sleep: half-asleep dolphins, standing horses, short-sleeping giraffes and birds that nap in the air» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air:e3:1
# text = Identify the principal reason for which the duration of sleep attributed to sloths was formerly overstated.
1	Identify	identify	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	duration	duration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	attributed	attribute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	sloths	sloth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
15	formerly	formerly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	overstated	overstate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | imperative | you *not said here* | the principal reason |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 2 | **attribute** | participle |  | the duration of sleep *not said here* |  |  |  | to sloths | tree rules |
| 3 | **overstate** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | the duration of sleep |  |  |  | for the principal reason; formerly *property* | vn overstate-37.12 «NP V NP»: subject=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sloths were observed only in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air:e3:o1:1
# text = Sloths were observed only in winter
1	Sloths	sloth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	observed	observe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **observe** | past · passive |  | Sloths |  |  | winter |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sloths conceal themselves while awake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air:e3:o2:1
# text = Sloths conceal themselves while awake
1	Sloths	sloth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	conceal	conceal	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obj	_	_
4	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	awake	awake	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **conceal** | present | Sloths | Sloths *= sloth* |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Observers confused sloths with koalas

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air:e3:o3:1
# text = Observers confused sloths with koalas
1	Observers	observer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	confused	confuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	sloths	sloth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	koalas	koala	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **confuse** | past | Observers | sloths |  |  |  | with koalas | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent sloth=Patient with koala=Co-Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Early observations were made upon animals kept in zoos

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air:e3:o4:1
# text = Early observations were made upon animals kept in zoos
1	Early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	observations	observation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:agent	_	_
7	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	zoos	zoo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past · passive | animals | Early observations |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Product |
| 2 | **keep** | participle |  | animals *not said here* |  | zoos |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in zoo=Location |

<!-- 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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