---
title: A fish stays still in the middle of a tank, neither sinking nor risi… — Fish, frogs and reptiles · tree and pragmatics
description: A fish stays still in the middle of a tank, neither sinking nor rising. What helps it do this? Test 1 · ★ of lesson 74 «Fish, frogs and reptiles» 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 1 · ★ · Fish, frogs and reptiles

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fish stays still in the middle of a tank, neither sinking nor rising. What helps it do this?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** fish · **What happens:** stay, sink, rise, help, do · **To what, where:** middle, fish, this

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This is test 1 · ★ of lesson 74 «Fish, frogs and reptiles» 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/74-fish-frogs-reptiles/#t1).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A fish stays still in the middle of a tank, neither sinking nor rising.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t1:1
# text = A fish stays still in the middle of a tank, neither sinking nor rising.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stays	stay	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	tank	tank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	13	cc:preconj	_	_
13	sinking	sink	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	advcl	_	_
14	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	15	cc	_	_
15	rising	rise	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | present | a fish |  |  | the middle of a tank | still |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in middle=Location |
| 2 | **sink** | gerund | a fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **rise** | gerund | a fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 helps it do this?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t1:2
# text = What helps it do this?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	helps	help	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | present |  | fish |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | infinitive | fish *not said here* | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its tail fin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t1:o1:1
# text = Its tail fin
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	fin	fin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its swim bladder

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t1:o2:1
# text = Its swim bladder
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	swim	swim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	bladder	bladder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its gills

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t1:o3:1
# text = Its gills
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	gills	gill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its lateral line

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t1:o4:1
# text = Its lateral line
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	lateral	lateral	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

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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: [Birds: feathers, nests and flight, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/73-birds-feathers-nests-flight/e4/)
- next →: [Fish, frogs and reptiles, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/74-fish-frogs-reptiles/t2/)
- ↑ back to [Fish, frogs and reptiles](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/74-fish-frogs-reptiles/)