---
title: Why would pebbles be precious in Antarctica? — The penguin pool · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would pebbles be precious in Antarctica? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 99 «The penguin pool» 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.
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · The penguin pool

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would pebbles be precious in Antarctica?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** pebbles · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** Antarctica

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 99 «The penguin pool» 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/99-the-penguin-pool/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:99-the-penguin-pool:t9:1
# text = Why would pebbles be precious in Antarctica?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	pebbles	pebble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	precious	precious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Antarctica	Antarctica	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | pebbles |  |  | Antarctica |  | precious *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Penguins eat them for food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:99-the-penguin-pool:t9:o1:1
# text = Penguins eat them for food
1	Penguins	penguin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | Penguins | them *= they* |  |  |  | for food | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bare stones are scarce and keep eggs out of meltwater

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:99-the-penguin-pool:t9:o2:1
# text = Bare stones are scarce and keep eggs out of meltwater
1	Bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	scarce	scarce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
7	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	meltwater	meltwater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Bare stones |  |  |  |  | scarce *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **keep** | present | Bare stones *not said here* | eggs |  | meltwater |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent egg=Theme out meltwater=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They soak up the sun and keep the nest warm like a heater

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:99-the-penguin-pool:t9:o3:1
# text = They soak up the sun and keep the nest warm like a heater
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	soak	soak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	heater	heater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **soak up** | present | They | the sun |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent sun=Source |
| 2 | **keep** | infinitive | They *not said here* | the nest |  |  |  | warm *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Penguins use them as money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:99-the-penguin-pool:t9:o4:1
# text = Penguins use them as money
1	Penguins	penguin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present | Penguins | them *= they* |  |  |  | as money | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent they=Duration as money=Attribute |

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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.

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