---
title: Why could a frog live in a desert much less easily than a lizard? — Fish, frogs and reptiles · tree and pragmatics
description: Why could a frog live in a desert much less easily than a lizard? Test 4 · ★ 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 4 · ★ · Fish, frogs and reptiles

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why could a frog live in a desert much less easily than a lizard?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** frog · **What happens:** live · **To what, where:** desert

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This is test 4 · ★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t4:1
# text = Why could a frog live in a desert much less easily than a lizard?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	much	much	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	11	advmod	_	_
11	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
12	than	than	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	lizard	lizard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | a frog |  |  | a desert |  | easily *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in desert=Location |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its eggs need hot sand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t4:o1:1
# text = Its eggs need hot sand
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | Its eggs | hot sand |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot sand=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It cannot eat insects in a desert

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t4:o2:1
# text = It cannot eat insects in a desert
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **eat** | can | It | insects |  | a desert |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent insect=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its thin, moist skin would dry out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t4:o3:1
# text = Its thin, moist skin would dry out
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
2	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	moist	moist	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	dry	dry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dry out** | would | Its thin moist skin |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It needs more sunshine than a lizard

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:74-fish-frogs-reptiles:t4:o4:1
# text = It needs more sunshine than a lizard
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	amod	_	_
4	sunshine	sunshine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	lizard	lizard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | It | more sunshine |  |  |  | than a lizard | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot sunshine=Theme |

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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: [Fish, frogs and reptiles, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/74-fish-frogs-reptiles/t3/)
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