---
title: Why do gulls at some seaside towns snatch food from people's hands? — Respecting wild animals · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do gulls at some seaside towns snatch food from people's hands? Test 3 · ★★ of lesson 70 «Respecting wild animals» of the everyday 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 3 · ★★ · Respecting wild animals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do gulls at some seaside towns snatch food from people's hands?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** seaside towns · **What happens:** do, snatch · **To what, where:** gulls, food, hands

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 70 «Respecting wild animals» of the everyday 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/everyday/70-respecting-wild-animals/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:70-respecting-wild-animals:t3:1
# text = Why do gulls at some seaside towns snatch food from people's hands?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
3	gulls	gull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
6	seaside	seaside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	towns	town	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	snatch	snatch	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	hands	hand	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 | **do** | present | some seaside towns *not said here* | gulls |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gull=Eventuality |
| 2 | **snatch** | present | some seaside towns | food |  | people's hands |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent food=Theme from hand=Source |

<!-- .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 -->
People have fed them, so they learned to grab food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:70-respecting-wild-animals:t3:o1:1
# text = People have fed them, so they learned to grab food
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	fed	feed	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	grab	grab	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feed** | present · perfect | People | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 2 | **learn** | past | People |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **grab** | to-infinitive | People *not said here* | food |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gulls are always starving at the seaside

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:70-respecting-wild-animals:t3:o2:1
# text = Gulls are always starving at the seaside
1	Gulls	gull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	seaside	seaside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **starve** | present · progressive | Gulls |  |  | the seaside |  | always *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gulls cannot find any fish left in the sea

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:70-respecting-wild-animals:t3:o3:1
# text = Gulls cannot find any fish left in the sea
1	Gulls	gull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **find** | can | Gulls | any fish |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Topic |
| 2 | **leave** | participle |  | any fish *not said here* |  |  |  | in the sea *result* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in sea=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Gulls are trained to do it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:70-respecting-wild-animals:t3:o4:1
# text = Gulls are trained to do it
1	Gulls	gull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	trained	train	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **train** | present · passive |  | Gulls |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | Gulls *not said here* | it |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

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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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