---
title: «why do musk oxen just stand in a circle like idiots when wolves com… — The Arctic: ice, snow and the polar be… · tree and pragmatics
description: «why do musk oxen just stand in a circle like idiots when wolves come» Which is the best answer? Test 8 of lesson 6 «The Arctic: ice, snow and the polar bear's world» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's ch
---

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# Test 8 · The Arctic: ice, snow and the polar bear's world

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«why do musk oxen just stand in a circle like idiots when wolves come» Which is the best answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** musk oxen, wolves · **What happens:** stand, come, be · **To what, where:** circle, best answer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 6 «The Arctic: ice, snow and the polar bear's world» 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/6-the-arctic/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:6-the-arctic:t8:1
# text = «why do musk oxen just stand in a circle like idiots when wolves come» Which is the best answer?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
3	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	musk	musk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	oxen	ox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
6	just	just	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	stand	stand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	csubj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	idiots	idiot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
17	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	21	amod	_	_
21	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** *in a quote* | present · do-support | musk oxen |  |  | a circle like idiots |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in circle=Location |
| 2 | **come** *in a quote* | present | wolves |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **be** *speech: assert* | present |  | the best 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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are too slow to do anything else but stand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:6-the-arctic:t8:o1:1
# text = They are too slow to do anything else but stand
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	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	_
8	else	else	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | slow *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* | anything |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |
| 3 | **stand** | infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are counting the wolves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:6-the-arctic:t8:o2:1
# text = They are counting the wolves
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	counting	count	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | present · progressive | They | the wolves |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wolf=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wall of horns protects the calves in the middle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:6-the-arctic:t8:o3:1
# text = The wall of horns protects the calves in the middle
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	horns	horn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	protects	protect	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	calves	calf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **protect** | present | the wall of horns |  | the calves | the middle |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent calf=Beneficiary |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are trying to look bigger to each other

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:6-the-arctic:t8:o4:1
# text = They are trying to look bigger to each other
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	xcomp	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	5	obl	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | present · progressive | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **look** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to each; big *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to each=Experiencer |

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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: [The Arctic: ice, snow and the polar be…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/6-the-arctic/t7/)
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