---
title: Why might slow animals like giant tortoises live longer than fast on… — The reptile house: Komodo dragons, cha… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might slow animals like giant tortoises live longer than fast ones? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 88 «The reptile house: Komodo dragons, chameleons, tortoises and crocodiles» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova
---

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# Test 11 · ★★ · The reptile house: Komodo dragons, chameleons, tortoises a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might slow animals like giant tortoises live longer than fast ones?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** slow animals · **What happens:** live

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 88 «The reptile house: Komodo dragons, chameleons, tortoises and crocodiles» 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/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t11:1
# text = Why might slow animals like giant tortoises live longer than fast ones?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	tortoises	tortoise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	fast	fast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | might | slow animals like giant tortoises |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their shells make them magic

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t11:o1:1
# text = Their shells make them magic
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	shells	shell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Their shells | them *= they* |  |  |  | magic *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset they=Product |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They never get hungry, so they never have to go out looking for food

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t11:o2:1
# text = They never get hungry, so they never have to go out looking for food
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	out	out	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	xcomp	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **get** | present | They |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **not** **have** | present | they |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go out** | to-infinitive | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  | out *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **look** | gerund | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for food | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for food=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are always asleep

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t11:o3:1
# text = They are always asleep
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	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | always, asleep *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their slow lives seem to help them live long

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t11:o4:1
# text = Their slow lives seem to help them live long
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	seem	seem	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | present | Their slow lives |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **help** | to-infinitive | Their slow lives *not said here* | lives *= life* |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 3 | **live** | infinitive | lives *= life* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

<!-- /div -->

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- next →: [The reptile house: Komodo dragons, cha…, test 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/t12/)
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