---
title: What would happen to the foxes if a disease killed most of the rabbi… — Food chains: sun, plants, plant-eaters… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to the foxes if a disease killed most of the rabbits in a field? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 46 «Food chains: sun, plants, plant-eaters, meat-eaters» 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 w
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Food chains: sun, plants, plant-eaters, meat-eaters

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to the foxes if a disease killed most of the rabbits in a field?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** disease · **What happens:** happen, kill · **To what, where:** most, field

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 46 «Food chains: sun, plants, plant-eaters, meat-eaters» 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/46-food-chains/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:46-food-chains:t4:1
# text = What would happen to the foxes if a disease killed most of the rabbits in a field?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	disease	disease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	killed	kill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
11	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	10	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to the foxes | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **kill** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a disease | most of the rabbits |  | a field |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent most=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 -->
The foxes would start eating grass only, like the rabbits used to

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:46-food-chains:t4:o1:1
# text = The foxes would start eating grass only, like the rabbits used to
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | would | the foxes |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund | the foxes *not said here* | grass |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Patient |
| 3 | **use** | past | the rabbits |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would eat more mice, beetles and fruit, or go hungry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:46-food-chains:t4:o2:1
# text = They would eat more mice, beetles and fruit, or go hungry
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	beetles	beetle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
13	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | would | They | more mice and beetles and fruit |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouse=Patient |
| 2 | **go** | infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There would be more foxes than before

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:46-food-chains:t4:o3:1
# text = There would be more foxes than before
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
4	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	fixed	_	_
7	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, foxes do not eat rabbits

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:46-food-chains:t4:o4:1
# text = Nothing, foxes do not eat rabbits
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
7	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **eat** | present · do-support | foxes | rabbits |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rabbit=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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