---
title: «whale songs are just random noises» What did scientists find? — How animals talk · tree and pragmatics
description: «whale songs are just random noises» What did scientists find? Test 7 · ★★★ of lesson 50 «How animals talk» 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 7 · ★★★ · How animals talk

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«whale songs are just random noises» What did scientists find?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** whale songs, scientists · **What happens:** be, find · **To what, where:** random noises

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★★★ of lesson 50 «How animals talk» 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/50-how-animals-talk/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t7:1
# text = «whale songs are just random noises» What did scientists find?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	random	random	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	noises	noise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
9	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	obj	_	_
10	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | whale songs | random noises |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | past · do-support | scientists | random noises |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
Males in one region sing nearly the same song, and new songs spread

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t7:o1:1
# text = Males in one region sing nearly the same song, and new songs spread
1	Males	male	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	region	region	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	sing	sing	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	spread	spread	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | Males in one region | the same song |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |
| 2 | **spread** | present | new songs |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whales copy the songs of ships

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t7:o2:1
# text = Whales copy the songs of ships
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	copy	copy	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **copy** | present | Whales | the songs of ships |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent song=Theme |
| 2 | **sing** |  | ships |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each whale sings a random noise every time

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t7:o3:1
# text = Each whale sings a random noise every time
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sings	sing	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	random	random	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | each whale | a random noise |  |  | time |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location noise=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only one whale in the whole world sings, and the rest just listen to it

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:50-how-animals-talk:t7:o4:1
# text = Only one whale in the whole world sings, and the rest just listen to it
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	sings	sing	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	just	just	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | one whale in the whole world |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |
| 2 | **listen** | infinitive | the rest |  | whale |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to 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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