---
title: Why might it be so hard to watch an eel lay eggs in the middle of th… — Migration: the great journeys · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might it be so hard to watch an eel lay eggs in the middle of the ocean? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 54 «Migration: the great journeys» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Migration: the great journeys

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might it be so hard to watch an eel lay eggs in the middle of the ocean?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** eel · **What happens:** be, watch, lie · **To what, where:** eggs, middle

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This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 54 «Migration: the great journeys» 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/54-migration-the-great-journeys/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:54-migration-the-great-journeys:t8:1
# text = Why might it be so hard to watch an eel lay eggs in the middle of the ocean?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	expl	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	csubj	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	eel	eel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
12	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	ocean	ocean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | might |  |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **watch** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **lie** | past | a eel | eggs |  | the middle of the ocean |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location egg=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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sea is huge and deep, and eels are hard to follow there

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:54-migration-the-great-journeys:t8:o1:1
# text = The sea is huge and deep, and eels are hard to follow there
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	eels	eel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the sea |  |  |  |  | huge *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the sea *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | eels |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **follow** | to-infinitive | eels *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Eels hide their eggs inside clams and close them up again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:54-migration-the-great-journeys:t8:o2:1
# text = Eels hide their eggs inside clams and close them up again
1	Eels	eel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hide	hide	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	clams	clam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	close	close	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	up	up	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
11	again	again	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | present | Eels | Eels's eggs |  | clams |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent egg=Patient inside clam=Location |
| 2 | **close up** | infinitive | Eels *not said here* | eggs *= egg* |  |  | again |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is against the law to look

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:54-migration-the-great-journeys:t8:o3:1
# text = It is against the law to look
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	against	against	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | against the law | tree rules |
| 2 | **look** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Eels only lay eggs on land

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:54-migration-the-great-journeys:t8:o4:1
# text = Eels only lay eggs on land
1	Eels	eel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lay** | present | Eels | eggs |  | land |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent egg=Theme on land=Destination |

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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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- ← previous: [Migration: the great journeys, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/54-migration-the-great-journeys/t7/)
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