---
title: «why would a dino that can't fly have feathers, that's dumb» What is… — The end of the dinosaurs, and birds as… · tree and pragmatics
description: «why would a dino that can't fly have feathers, that's dumb» What is right? Test 9 · ★★ 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 9 · ★★ · The end of the dinosaurs, and birds as living dinosaurs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«why would a dino that can't fly have feathers, that's dumb» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** dino, that · **What happens:** not fly, have, be · **To what, where:** feathers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ 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/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t9:1
# text = «why would a dino that can't fly have feathers, that's dumb» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dino	dino	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
7	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	dumb	dumb	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
17	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	19	nsubj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **fly** *in a quote* | can | a dino |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** *in a quote* | would | a dino | feathers |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feather=Patient |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  |  | dumb *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | right *property* | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Feathers first helped with warmth and display, and later with flying

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t9:o1:1
# text = Feathers first helped with warmth and display, and later with flying
1	Feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	advmod	_	_
3	helped	help	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	warmth	warmth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	display	display	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	flying	flying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | past | Feathers |  |  |  |  | with warmth and display; with flying; first, late *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with warmth=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Feathers grew only on dinosaur babies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t9:o2:1
# text = Feathers grew only on dinosaur babies
1	Feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	dinosaur	dinosaur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | Feathers | dinosaur babies |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location baby=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only flying dinosaurs had feathers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t9:o3:1
# text = Only flying dinosaurs had feathers
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	amod	_	_
3	dinosaurs	dinosaur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | flying dinosaurs | feathers |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feather=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Feathers are useless without flying, so they must all have flown

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:76-end-of-the-dinosaurs-and-birds:t9:o4:1
# text = Feathers are useless without flying, so they must all have flown
1	Feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	all	all	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
12	flown	fly	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Feathers |  |  |  |  | useless *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fly** | gerund | Feathers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **fly** | must · perfect · passive |  | Feathers *= feather* |  |  |  | all *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «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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