---
title: how long's a hen sit on her eggs before they hatch — Life cycles · tree and pragmatics
description: how long's a hen sit on her eggs before they hatch Test 11 of lesson 25 «Life cycles» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/25-life-cycles/t11/)

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# Test 11 · Life cycles

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
how long's a hen sit on her eggs before they hatch

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** hen sit, eggs · **What happens:** be, hatch

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 25 «Life cycles» of the world 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/world/25-life-cycles/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:25-life-cycles:t11:1
# text = how long's a hen sit on her eggs before they hatch
1	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	hen	hen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	sit	sit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
10	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	hatch	hatch	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a hen sit on her eggs |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hatch** | present | eggs *= egg* |  |  |  |  |  | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About three months

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:25-life-cycles:t11:o1:1
# text = About three months
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About three weeks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:25-life-cycles:t11:o2:1
# text = About three weeks
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About three days

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:25-life-cycles:t11:o3:1
# text = About three days
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About one week

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:25-life-cycles:t11:o4:1
# text = About one week
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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: [Life cycles, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/25-life-cycles/t10/)
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