---
title: Why might scientists keep a healthy group of Tasmanian devils on a s… — Animals of Australia and New Zealand:… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might scientists keep a healthy group of Tasmanian devils on a separate island? Test 8 · ★★ of lesson 79 «Animals of Australia and New Zealand: kangaroos, koalas, wombats, kiwis» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each o
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Animals of Australia and New Zealand: kangaroos, koalas, w…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might scientists keep a healthy group of Tasmanian devils on a separate island?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** scientists · **What happens:** keep · **To what, where:** healthy group

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ of lesson 79 «Animals of Australia and New Zealand: kangaroos, koalas, wombats, kiwis» 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/79-animals-of-australia-and-new-zealand/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:79-animals-of-australia-and-new-zealand:t8:1
# text = Why might scientists keep a healthy group of Tasmanian devils on a separate island?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	healthy	healthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	group	group	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	Tasmanian	tasmanian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	devils	devil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	separate	separate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | might | scientists | a healthy group of Tasmanian devils on a separate island |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent group=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because devils like islands better

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:79-animals-of-australia-and-new-zealand:t8:o1:1
# text = Because devils like islands better
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	devils	devil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	like	like	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As insurance, in case the face tumour disease kills the rest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:79-animals-of-australia-and-new-zealand:t8:o2:1
# text = As insurance, in case the face tumour disease kills the rest
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	insurance	insurance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
8	tumour	tumour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	disease	disease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	kills	kill	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** | present | the face tumour disease | the rest |  | case |  | as insurance | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent rest=Duration as insurance=Attribute |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To stop them eating all the baby kangaroos on the mainland

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:79-animals-of-australia-and-new-zealand:t8:o3:1
# text = To stop them eating all the baby kangaroos on the mainland
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
5	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	kangaroos	kangaroo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mainland	mainland	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund |  | all baby kangaroos |  | the mainland |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kangaroo=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To breed them into dogs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:79-animals-of-australia-and-new-zealand:t8:o4:1
# text = To breed them into dogs
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	breed	breed	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **breed** | to-infinitive |  | them *= they* |  |  |  | into dogs | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

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- next →: [Animals of Australia and New Zealand:…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/79-animals-of-australia-and-new-zealand/t9/)
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