---
title: Why would animals living in dark caves lose their eyes over many gen… — The amphibian room: poison frogs, axol… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would animals living in dark caves lose their eyes over many generations? Test 9 of lesson 89 «The amphibian room: poison frogs, axolotls and the frog rescue» 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
---

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# Test 9 · The amphibian room: poison frogs, axolotls and the frog re…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would animals living in dark caves lose their eyes over many generations?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** animals · **What happens:** live, lose · **To what, where:** dark caves, eyes, many generations

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This is test 9 of lesson 89 «The amphibian room: poison frogs, axolotls and the frog rescue» 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/89-amphibian-room-poison-frogs-axolotls-frog-rescue/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:89-amphibian-room-poison-frogs-axolotls-frog-rescue:t9:1
# text = Why would animals living in dark caves lose their eyes over many generations?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	caves	cave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	over	over	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	generations	generation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | gerund | animals *not said here* |  |  | dark caves |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cave=Location |
| 2 | **lose** | would | animals | animals's eyes |  |  | over many generations |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 -->
The cold freezes their eyes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:89-amphibian-room-poison-frogs-axolotls-frog-rescue:t9:o1:1
# text = The cold freezes their eyes
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	nsubj	_	_
3	freezes	freeze	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** | present | the cold | their eyes |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient eye=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bats steal their eyes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:89-amphibian-room-poison-frogs-axolotls-frog-rescue:t9:o2:1
# text = Bats steal their eyes
1	Bats	bat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	steal	steal	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **steal** | present | Bats | Bats's eyes |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location eye=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In total darkness eyes are no use, so they faded away

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:89-amphibian-room-poison-frogs-axolotls-frog-rescue:t9:o3:1
# text = In total darkness eyes are no use, so they faded away
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
2	total	total	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
7	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	faded	fade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	away	away	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | total darkness eyes |  |  | no use |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fade away** | past | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They poke their eyes out on the sharp rocks in the dark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:89-amphibian-room-poison-frogs-axolotls-frog-rescue:t9:o4:1
# text = They poke their eyes out on the sharp rocks in the dark
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	poke	poke	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	out	out	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **poke out** | present | They | their eyes |  | the sharp rocks |  | in the dark; out *property* | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent eye=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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