---
title: Why would a bird sleep less while flying over the sea? — How animals sleep: half-asleep dolphin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a bird sleep less while flying over the sea? Test 9 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, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of
---

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# Test 9 · How animals sleep: half-asleep dolphins, standing horses,…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a bird sleep less while flying over the sea?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** bird sleep · **What happens:** fly · **To what, where:** sea

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 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. 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/#t9).

## 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:t9:1
# text = Why would a bird sleep less while flying over the sea?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	1	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
7	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | gerund | a bird sleep *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  | less *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over sea=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
It sleeps more at sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air:t9:o1:1
# text = It sleeps more at sea
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sleeps	sleep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It must keep steering and watching, with nowhere safe to land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air:t9:o2:1
# text = It must keep steering and watching, with nowhere safe to land
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	steering	steer	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	nowhere	nowhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	land	land	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | must | It |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **steer** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **watch** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **land** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is never tired at sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air:t9:o3:1
# text = It is never tired at sea
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | It |  |  | sea |  | tired *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seawater keeps it 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:t9:o4:1
# text = Seawater keeps it awake
1	Seawater	seawater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	awake	awake	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

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

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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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- ↑ back to [How animals sleep: half-asleep dolphins, standing horses, short-sleeping giraffes and birds that nap in the air](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air/)