---
title: «why'd the T. rex die if it ate meat, not plants?» What is the best… — The end of the dinosaurs, and birds as… · tree and pragmatics
description: «why'd the T. rex die if it ate meat, not plants?» What is the best answer? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 76 «The end of the dinosaurs, and birds as living dinosaurs» 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 3 · ★★ · The end of the dinosaurs, and birds as living dinosaurs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«why'd the T. rex die if it ate meat, not plants?» What is the best answer?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** die, best answer · **What happens:** eat, be · **To what, where:** meat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 76 «The end of the dinosaurs, and birds as living dinosaurs» 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/76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* «why'd the T. rex die if it ate meat, not plants?»

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t3:1
# text = «why'd the T. rex die if it ate meat, not plants?»
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	'd	'd	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	T.	T.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	rex	rex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	die	die	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** *in a quote* | past | die | meat and plants |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is the best answer?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t3:2
# text = What is the best answer?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the best answer |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Plants died without sunlight, then plant-eaters, then meat-eaters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t3:o1:1
# text = Plants died without sunlight, then plant-eaters, then meat-eaters
1	Plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	without	without	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
7	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	eaters	eater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
12	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	eaters	eater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | past | Plants | plant eaters |  |  |  | without sunlight; meat eaters *obl* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The asteroid hit every T. rex directly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t3:o2:1
# text = The asteroid hit every T. rex directly
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	asteroid	asteroid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hit	hit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
5	T.	T.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	rex	rex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hit** | past | the asteroid | every T. rex |  |  |  | directly *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme rex=Co-Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Meat-eaters were allergic to dust

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t3:o3:1
# text = Meat-eaters were allergic to dust
1	Meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	eaters	eater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	allergic	allergic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	dust	dust	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Meat eaters |  |  |  |  | allergic *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **dust** | to-infinitive | Meat eaters *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
T. rex secretly ate plants too, so it starved when the plants were gone

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t3:o4:1
# text = T. rex secretly ate plants too, so it starved when the plants were gone
1	T.	T.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	rex	rex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	secretly	secretly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	starved	starve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | T. rex | plants |  |  |  | secretly *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plant=Patient |
| 2 | **starve** | past | rex |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | past · passive |  | the plants |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: subject=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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