---
title: Why is it impossible to have a habitat with more lions than zebras f… — Balance in a food web · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is it impossible to have a habitat with more lions than zebras for long? Test 4 · ★★★ 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 4 · ★★★ · Balance in a food web

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is it impossible to have a habitat with more lions than zebras for long?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be, have · **To what, where:** habitat

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This is test 4 · ★★★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t4:1
# text = Why is it impossible to have a habitat with more lions than zebras for long?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
4	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	csubj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	habitat	habitat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	amod	_	_
11	lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
12	than	than	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	zebras	zebra	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | to-infinitive |  | a habitat |  |  |  | with more lions than zebras for long | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent habitat=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 -->
Zebras would eat all the lions

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t4:o1:1
# text = Zebras would eat all the lions
1	Zebras	zebra	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | would | Zebras | all lions |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lion=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Zebras would run away to other lands

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t4:o2:1
# text = Zebras would run away to other lands
1	Zebras	zebra	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	lands	land	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run away** | would | Zebras |  |  |  |  | to other lands *result*; away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to land=Result |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The lions would not get enough food energy

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t4:o3:1
# text = The lions would not get enough food energy
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	enough	enough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	energy	energy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **get** | would | the lions | enough food energy |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer energy=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lions eat only grass in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:30-balance-in-food-webs:t4:o4:1
# text = Lions eat only grass in winter
1	Lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | Lions | grass |  |  | winter |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/30-balance-in-food-webs/t3/)
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