---
title: A farmer kills all the owls on his farm because they scare his chick… — Balance in a food web · tree and pragmatics
description: A farmer kills all the owls on his farm because they scare his chickens. What is likely to happen next? Test 3 · ★★★ 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 3 · ★★★ · Balance in a food web

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A farmer kills all the owls on his farm because they scare his chickens. What is likely to happen next?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** farmer, owls · **What happens:** kill, scare, be, happen · **To what, where:** owls, farm, chickens

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This is test 3 · ★★★ 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/#t3).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A farmer kills all the owls on his farm because they scare his chickens.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t3:1
# text = A farmer kills all the owls on his farm because they scare his chickens.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	kills	kill	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	scare	scare	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	chickens	chicken	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** | present | a farmer | all owls |  | farmer's farm |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent owl=Theme |
| 2 | **scare** | present | owls *= owl* | farmer's chickens |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus chicken=Experiencer |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is likely to happen next?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t3:2
# text = What is likely to happen next?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	next	next	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **happen** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | next *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mice decrease because owls protected them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t3:o1:1
# text = Mice decrease because owls protected them
1	Mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	decrease	decrease	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	protected	protect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decrease** | present | Mice |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **protect** | past | owls | Mice *= mouse* |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The grain grows better without the owls

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t3:o2:1
# text = The grain grows better without the owls
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
5	without	without	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | the grain |  |  |  |  | without the owls; good *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His chickens start to catch the mice

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t3:o3:1
# text = His chickens start to catch the mice
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	chickens	chicken	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	start	start	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | present | His chickens |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **catch** | to-infinitive | His chickens *not said here* | the mice |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouse=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mice increase and eat more of his grain

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t3:o4:1
# text = Mice increase and eat more of his grain
1	Mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	increase	increase	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
5	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **increase** | present | Mice |  |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **eat** | present | Mice *not said here* | more |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=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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