--- title: Why might virgin birth help a lonely female on a small island? — The reptile house: Komodo dragons, cha… · tree and pragmatics description: Why might virgin birth help a lonely female on a small island? Test 9 · ★★ 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's choice --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/t9/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [The reptile house: Komodo dragons, cha…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/) / t9 # Test 9 · ★★ · The reptile house: Komodo dragons, chameleons, tortoises a… Why might virgin birth help a lonely female on a small island? **Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** virgin birth · **What happens:** help · **To what, where:** lonely female, small island This is test 9 · ★★ 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/#t9). ## The question {#question} ```conllu # sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t9:1 # text = Why might virgin birth help a lonely female on a small island? 1 Why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 5 advmod _ _ 2 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 3 virgin virgin ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 birth birth NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 help help VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 lonely lonely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 female female NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 9 on on ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 11 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 island island NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ? ? PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **help** | might | virgin birth | a lonely female | | a small island | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent female=Beneficiary | 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} Her babies would be bigger ```conllu # sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t9:o1:1 # text = Her babies would be bigger 1 Her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 babies baby NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nsubj _ _ 3 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 4 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 5 cop _ _ 5 bigger big ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 0 root _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | would | Her babies | | | | | big *property* | tree rules | ### Option 2 {#o2} She would live for ever ```conllu # sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t9:o2:1 # text = She would live for ever 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 live live VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 4 for for ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 3 obl _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **live** | would | She | | | | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3} She could still start a family with no male nearby ```conllu # sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t9:o3:1 # text = She could still start a family with no male nearby 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 still still ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 start start VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 family family NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 7 with with ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 9 det _ _ 9 male male NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 10 nearby nearby ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **start** | could | She | a family | | | still | with no male | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.subeventuality»: agent=Agent family=Eventuality with male=Subeventuality | ### Option 4 {#o4} She could fly over the sea to another island to find a mate ```conllu # sent_id = question:biology:88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles:t9:o4:1 # text = She could fly over the sea to another island to find a mate 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 fly fly VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 4 over over ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 another another DET DT PronType=Ind 9 det _ _ 9 island island NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 find find VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 advcl _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 mate mate NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ ``` | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fly** | could | She | | | the sea | | to another island | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent over sea=Location | | 2 | **find** | to-infinitive | She *not said here* | a mate | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mate=Topic | **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. - ← previous: [The reptile house: Komodo dragons, cha…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/t8/) - next →: [The reptile house: Komodo dragons, cha…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/t10/) - ↑ back to [The reptile house: Komodo dragons, chameleons, tortoises and crocodiles](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/)