---
title: why r there way fewer foxes than rabbits — Balance in a food web · tree and pragmatics
description: why r there way fewer foxes than rabbits Test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 30 «Balance in a food web» 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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# Test 11 · ★★★ · Balance in a food web

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
why r there way fewer foxes than rabbits

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 30 «Balance in a food web» 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/30-balance-in-food-webs/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t11:1
# text = why r there way fewer foxes than rabbits
1	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	r	r	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
4	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
5	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Rabbits eat the foxes' food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t11:o1:1
# text = Rabbits eat the foxes' food
1	Rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	'	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Foxes just have fewer babies than rabbits, by pure chance

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t11:o2:1
# text = Foxes just have fewer babies than rabbits, by pure chance
1	Foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	just	just	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	pure	pure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Foxes | fewer babies |  |  |  | than rabbits | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent baby=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Foxes live only in the winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t11:o3:1
# text = Foxes live only in the winter
1	Foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | Foxes |  |  |  | winter |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only a little energy passes up each step of the chain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t11:o4:1
# text = Only a little energy passes up each step of the chain
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	energy	energy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	passes	pass	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	chain	chain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass up** | present | a little energy | each step of the chain |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme step=Trajectory |
| 2 | **step** |  |  | the chain |  |  |  |  | nom step «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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: [Balance in a food web, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/30-balance-in-food-webs/t10/)
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