---
title: A boy holds his breath. Why can he not do it for long? — The heart, blood and breathing · tree and pragmatics
description: A boy holds his breath. Why can he not do it for long? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 32 «The heart, blood and breathing» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/32-heart-blood-breathing/t1/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/) / [The heart, blood and breathing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/32-heart-blood-breathing/) / t1

# Test 1 · ★ · The heart, blood and breathing

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boy holds his breath. Why can he not do it for long?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** hold, not do · **To what, where:** breath

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 32 «The heart, blood and breathing» 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/32-heart-blood-breathing/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A boy holds his breath.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:32-heart-blood-breathing:t1:1
# text = A boy holds his breath.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present | a boy | boy's breath |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent breath=Theme |

<!-- .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:* Why can he not do it for long?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:32-heart-blood-breathing:t1:2
# text = Why can he not do it for long?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **do** | can | boy | breath |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His blood would run out of water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:32-heart-blood-breathing:t1:o1:1
# text = His blood would run out of water
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	out	out	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | would | His blood |  |  | water |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme out water=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His heart would stop beating at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:32-heart-blood-breathing:t1:o2:1
# text = His heart would stop beating at once
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	beating	beat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | His heart |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **beat** | gerund | His heart *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=Location |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His cells need a steady supply of oxygen

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:32-heart-blood-breathing:t1:o3:1
# text = His cells need a steady supply of oxygen
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	cells	cell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	steady	steady	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	supply	supply	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	oxygen	oxygen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | His cells | a steady supply of oxygen |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot supply=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His lungs would burst at once

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:32-heart-blood-breathing:t1:o4:1
# text = His lungs would burst at once
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	lungs	lung	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	burst	burst	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burst** | would | His lungs |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=Location |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [The skeleton and muscles, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/31-skeleton-and-muscles/e4/)
- next →: [The heart, blood and breathing, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/32-heart-blood-breathing/t2/)
- ↑ back to [The heart, blood and breathing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/32-heart-blood-breathing/)