---
title: Why do ducks keep preening with their beaks? — Oil and water, and things that won't mix · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do ducks keep preening with their beaks? Test 5 · ★ of lesson 7 «Oil and water, and things that won't mix» of the chemistry 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 5 · ★ · Oil and water, and things that won't mix

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do ducks keep preening with their beaks?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** ducks · **What happens:** keep, preen

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 7 «Oil and water, and things that won't mix» of the chemistry 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/chemistry/7-oil-and-water/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:7-oil-and-water:t5:1
# text = Why do ducks keep preening with their beaks?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	preening	preen	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	beaks	beak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | present · do-support | ducks |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **preen** | gerund | ducks *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with ducks's beaks | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
To count their feathers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:7-oil-and-water:t5:o1:1
# text = To count their feathers
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	count	count	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | to-infinitive |  | their feathers |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feather=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To pick off and eat the insects that live on the water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:7-oil-and-water:t5:o2:1
# text = To pick off and eat the insects that live on the water
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	pick	pick	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick off** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **eat** | present |  | the insects |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent insect=Patient |
| 3 | **live** | present | the insects |  |  | the water |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on water=Location |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To dry their feathers with their breath

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:7-oil-and-water:t5:o3:1
# text = To dry their feathers with their breath
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	dry	dry	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dry** | to-infinitive |  | their feathers |  |  |  | with feathers's breath | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent feather=Patient with breath=Instrument |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To spread oil over their feathers and keep waterproof

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:7-oil-and-water:t5:o4:1
# text = To spread oil over their feathers and keep waterproof
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	spread	spread	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	oil	oil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	over	over	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	waterproof	waterproof	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | to-infinitive |  | oil |  | their feathers |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent oil=Theme over feather=Destination |
| 2 | **keep** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | waterproof *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [Oil and water, and things that won't mix, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/chemistry/7-oil-and-water/t4/)
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