---
title: A small bird is busy feeding a chick much bigger than itself in its… — Birds: feathers, nests and flight · tree and pragmatics
description: A small bird is busy feeding a chick much bigger than itself in its nest. What might explain this? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 73 «Birds: feathers, nests and flight» 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 r
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/73-birds-feathers-nests-flight/t6/)

<!-- 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/) / [Birds: feathers, nests and flight](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/73-birds-feathers-nests-flight/) / t6

# Test 6 · ★ · Birds: feathers, nests and flight

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A small bird is busy feeding a chick much bigger than itself in its nest. What might explain this?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** small bird · **What happens:** be, feed, explain · **To what, where:** chick, this

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 73 «Birds: feathers, nests and flight» 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/73-birds-feathers-nests-flight/#t6).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A small bird is busy feeding a chick much bigger than itself in its nest.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:73-birds-feathers-nests-flight:t6:1
# text = A small bird is busy feeding a chick much bigger than itself in its nest.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	feeding	feed	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	csubj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	chick	chick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	much	much	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	advcl	_	_
11	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a small bird |  |  |  |  | busy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **feed** | gerund |  |  | a chick |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chick=Recipient |

<!-- .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 might explain this?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:73-birds-feathers-nests-flight:t6:2
# text = What might explain this?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	explain	explain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explain** *speech: assert* | might |  | this |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The chick grew big from extra warmth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:73-birds-feathers-nests-flight:t6:o1:1
# text = The chick grew big from extra warmth
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chick	chick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	extra	extra	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	warmth	warmth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | the chick |  |  |  |  | from extra warmth; big *property* | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP V NP.product PP.patient»: agent=Agent from warmth=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The small bird found the chick on the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:73-birds-feathers-nests-flight:t6:o2:1
# text = The small bird found the chick on the ground
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	chick	chick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | the small bird | the chick |  | the ground |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chick=Topic |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The chick is the small bird's own baby

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:73-birds-feathers-nests-flight:t6:o3:1
# text = The chick is the small bird's own baby
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chick	chick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the chick | the small bird's own baby |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A cuckoo laid its egg in that nest

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:73-birds-feathers-nests-flight:t6:o4:1
# text = A cuckoo laid its egg in that nest
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cuckoo	cuckoo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lay** | past | a cuckoo | cuckoo's egg |  | that nest |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent egg=Theme in nest=Destination |

<!-- 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: [Birds: feathers, nests and flight, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/73-birds-feathers-nests-flight/t5/)
- next →: [Birds: feathers, nests and flight, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/73-birds-feathers-nests-flight/t7/)
- ↑ back to [Birds: feathers, nests and flight](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/73-birds-feathers-nests-flight/)