---
title: Why does a stick insect sway even when there is no wind? — The insect house: ants, stick insects,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does a stick insect sway even when there is no wind? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 97 «The insect house: ants, stick insects, tarantulas and scorpions» 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 right.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions/t7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 insect house: ants, stick insects,…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions/) / t7

# Test 7 · ★ · The insect house: ants, stick insects, tarantulas and scor…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does a stick insect sway even when there is no wind?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** wind · **What happens:** be

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 97 «The insect house: ants, stick insects, tarantulas and scorpions» 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/97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions:t7:1
# text = Why does a stick insect sway even when there is no wind?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl:relcl	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	insect	insect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	sway	sway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	even	even	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	10	expl	_	_
10	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
12	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | no wind |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To look like a twig moving in a breeze

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions:t7:o1:1
# text = To look like a twig moving in a breeze
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	look	look	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	twig	twig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	moving	move	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	breeze	breeze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | like a twig | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **move** | gerund | a twig *not said here* |  |  | a breeze |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme in breeze=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To shake off the dust

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions:t7:o2:1
# text = To shake off the dust
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	shake	shake	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shake off** | to-infinitive |  | the dust |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent dust=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To keep warm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions:t7:o3:1
# text = To keep warm
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | warm *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because it is dizzy from hanging upside down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions:t7:o4:1
# text = Because it is dizzy from hanging upside down
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	dizzy	dizzy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	hanging	hang	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	advcl	_	_
7	upside	upside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	down	down	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | dizzy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hang down** | gerund |  | upside |  |  |  | down *property* | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent upside=Patient |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [The insect house: ants, stick insects,…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions/t6/)
- next →: [The insect house: ants, stick insects,…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions/t8/)
- ↑ back to [The insect house: ants, stick insects, tarantulas and scorpions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/97-the-insect-house-ants-stick-insects-tarantulas-and-scorpions/)