---
title: «why do mayflies even bother, they live like a day» What is the clev… — Life cycles and metamorphosis: frog, b… · tree and pragmatics
description: «why do mayflies even bother, they live like a day» What is the clever answer? Test 7 of lesson 48 «Life cycles and metamorphosis: frog, butterfly, ladybird» 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 
---

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# Test 7 · Life cycles and metamorphosis: frog, butterfly, ladybird

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«why do mayflies even bother, they live like a day» What is the clever answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mayflies · **What happens:** bother, live, be · **To what, where:** clever answer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 48 «Life cycles and metamorphosis: frog, butterfly, ladybird» 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/48-life-cycles-metamorphosis/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:48-life-cycles-metamorphosis:t7:1
# text = «why do mayflies even bother, they live like a day» What is the clever answer?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
3	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	mayflies	mayfly	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	even	even	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	bother	bother	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
14	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bother** *in a quote* | present · do-support | mayflies |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **live** *in a quote* | present | mayflies *= mayfly* |  |  |  | day |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **be** *speech: assert* | present |  | the clever 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They die because they forget to eat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:48-life-cycles-metamorphosis:t7:o1:1
# text = They die because they forget to eat
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	die	die	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	forget	forget	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | present | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **forget** | present | they |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **eat** | to-infinitive | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They live a year or more as nymphs; the adult only mates and lays eggs

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:48-life-cycles-metamorphosis:t7:o2:1
# text = They live a year or more as nymphs; the adult only mates and lays eggs
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	conj	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	nymphs	nymph	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	adult	adult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	mates	mate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	lays	lay	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
16	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | They | the adult and mates |  |  | year |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **lay** | present | They *not said here* | eggs |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Result |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are all eaten by fish on their very first day of life

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:48-life-cycles-metamorphosis:t7:o3:1
# text = They are all eaten by fish on their very first day of life
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	11	amod	_	_
11	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present · passive | fish | They |  |  | day | all *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They live only one day in total, from the egg to the end

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:48-life-cycles-metamorphosis:t7:o4:1
# text = They live only one day in total, from the egg to the end
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	total	total	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | They |  |  | total | day | from the egg to the end | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in total=Location |

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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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