---
title: «why do the meerkat guards scream different noises» Which is the bes… — The savanna: grass, trees and the grea… · tree and pragmatics
description: «why do the meerkat guards scream different noises» Which is the best answer? Test 11 of lesson 4 «The savanna: grass, trees and the great herds» 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 11 · The savanna: grass, trees and the great herds

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«why do the meerkat guards scream different noises» Which is the best answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** meerkat guards · **What happens:** do, scream, be · **To what, where:** different noises, best answer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 4 «The savanna: grass, trees and the great herds» 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/4-the-savanna/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:4-the-savanna:t11:1
# text = «why do the meerkat guards scream different noises» Which is the best answer?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
3	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	meerkat	meerkat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	guards	guard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	scream	scream	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	noises	noise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
11	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	15	amod	_	_
15	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** *in a quote* | present | the meerkat guards *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **scream** *speech: express* *in a quote* | present | the meerkat guards | different noises |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent noise=Topic |
| 3 | **be** *speech: assert* | present |  | the best answer |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Different calls warn of danger from the air or from the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:4-the-savanna:t11:o1:1
# text = Different calls warn of danger from the air or from the ground
1	Different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	calls	call	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	warn	warn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **warn** *speech: warn* | present | Different calls |  |  | the air or the ground |  | of danger | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent of danger=Topic |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are singing to pass the time on guard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:4-the-savanna:t11:o2:1
# text = They are singing to pass the time on guard
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | present · progressive | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  | guard | time |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on guard=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are calling the lions to come and eat the scorpions

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:4-the-savanna:t11:o3:1
# text = They are calling the lions to come and eat the scorpions
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	scorpions	scorpion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | present · progressive | They |  | the lions |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent lion=Recipient |
| 2 | **come** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **eat** | infinitive | They *not said here* | the scorpions |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scorpion=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each guard has only one call

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:4-the-savanna:t11:o4:1
# text = Each guard has only one call
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	call	call	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | each guard | one call |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent call=Patient |

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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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