---
title: What would happen to a field full of cow pats if there were no dung… — Who eats whom: predators, prey, scaven… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to a field full of cow pats if there were no dung beetles or other decomposers? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 47 «Who eats whom: predators, prey, scavengers and decomposers» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each 
---

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# Test 5 · ★★ · Who eats whom: predators, prey, scavengers and decomposers

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to a field full of cow pats if there were no dung beetles or other decomposers?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** dung beetles · **What happens:** happen, be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 47 «Who eats whom: predators, prey, scavengers and decomposers» 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/47-predators-prey-scavengers-decomposers/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:47-predators-prey-scavengers-decomposers:t5:1
# text = What would happen to a field full of cow pats if there were no dung beetles or other decomposers?
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	pats	pat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	13	expl	_	_
13	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
15	dung	dung	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	beetles	beetle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	decomposers	decomposer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to a field | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | no dung beetles or other decomposers |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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 cows would stop making dung

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:47-predators-prey-scavengers-decomposers:t5:o1:1
# text = The cows would stop making dung
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	making	make	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	dung	dung	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | the cows |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **make** | gerund | the cows *not said here* | dung |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset dung=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The dung would turn into fresh green grass by itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:47-predators-prey-scavengers-decomposers:t5:o2:1
# text = The dung would turn into fresh green grass by itself
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dung	dung	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | the dung |  |  | fresh green grass |  | by dung | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme into grass=Source by itself=Trajectory |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The dung would pile up and flies would breed in it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:47-predators-prey-scavengers-decomposers:t5:o3:1
# text = The dung would pile up and flies would breed in it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dung	dung	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	pile	pile	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	flies	fly	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	breed	breed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pile up** | would | the dung |  |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **breed** | would | flies |  |  | dung |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, dung just vanishes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:47-predators-prey-scavengers-decomposers:t5:o4:1
# text = Nothing, dung just vanishes
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	dung	dung	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	vanishes	vanish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vanish** | present | Nothing |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

<!-- /div -->

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