--- title: The truth is stranger: lemming numbers boom and crash every three to… — Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs? · tree and pragmatics description: The truth is stranger: lemming numbers boom and crash every three to four years, and in boom years crowds of lemmings spread out looking for food, swim rivers and lakes, and some drown, not because they want to die but because they are moving on. Who acts: truth, lemming numbers, crowds, some. A sen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/150-myth-check-do-lemmings-jump-off-cliffs/3/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / [Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/150-myth-check-do-lemmings-jump-off-cliffs/) / 3 # Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs?, sentence 3 The truth is stranger: lemming numbers boom and crash every three to four years, and in boom years crowds of lemmings spread out looking for food, swim rivers and lakes, and some drown, not because they want to die but because they are moving on. **Who acts:** truth, lemming numbers, crowds, some · **What happens:** be, boom, crash, spread out, look, swim · **To what, where:** rivers This is a sentence of the lesson «Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs?» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (truth, lemming numbers, crowds, some), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = school:biology:150-myth-check-do-lemmings-jump-off-cliffs.lesson:3 # text = The truth is stranger: lemming numbers boom and crash every three to four years, and in boom years crowds of lemmings spread out looking for food, swim rivers and lakes, and some drown, not because they want to die but because they are moving on. # source = school lesson (ours) # course = biology # lesson = 150-myth-check-do-lemmings-jump-off-cliffs.lesson # annotation = Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R5-strong ×1, R6-punct-agree ×2, R8-pos-agree ×1 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 truth truth NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 stranger strange ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 0 root _ _ 5 : : PUNCT : _ 8 punct _ _ 6 lemming lemming NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 compound _ _ 7 numbers number NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 nsubj _ _ 8 boom boom VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 crash crash VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 conj _ _ 11 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 15 det _ _ 12 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 15 nummod _ _ 13 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ Agree=R5-strong|Haiku=15:case 14 four four NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 15 nummod _ _ 15 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl:unmarked _ _ 16 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ Agree=R6-punct-agree|Haiku=21:punct 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 18 in in ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 boom boom NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 compound _ _ 20 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 24 obl _ _ 21 crowds crowd NOUN NNS Number=Plur 24 nsubj _ _ 22 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 lemmings lemming NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 nmod _ _ 24 spread spread VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ Agree=R8-pos-agree|Haiku=8:conj|HaikuPos=VERB:VBN:Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 25 out out ADP RP _ 24 compound:prt _ _ 26 looking look VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 advcl _ _ 27 for for ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 29 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 30 swim swim VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 31 rivers river NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obj _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 lakes lake NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 conj _ _ 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 36 some some PRON DT PronType=Ind 37 nsubj _ _ 37 drown drown VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 38 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 39 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 42 advmod _ _ 40 because because SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 41 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 42 want want VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 37 advcl _ _ 43 to to PART TO _ 44 mark _ _ 44 die die VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 xcomp _ _ 45 but but CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 46 because because SCONJ IN _ 49 mark _ _ 47 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ _ 48 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 49 aux _ _ 49 moving move VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 42 conj _ _ 50 on on ADP RP _ 49 compound:prt _ _ 51 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ Agree=R6-punct-agree|Haiku=8:punct ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: statement - act: assert - voice: narrator - polarity: neg - teacher: kept the draft | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | present | the truth | | | | | strange *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **boom** | present | lemming numbers | | | | | | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **crash** | infinitive | lemming numbers *not said here* | | | | year | | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **spread out** | present | crowds of lemmings | | | | year | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **look** | gerund | crowds of lemmings *not said here* | | | | | for food | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for food=Theme | | 6 | **swim** | present | lemming numbers *not said here* | rivers and lakes | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme river=Trajectory | | 7 | **drown** | present | some | | | | | | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **not** **want** | present | crowds *= crowd* | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 9 | **die** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | crowds *= crowd* *not said here* | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 10 | **move on** | present · progressive | crowds *= crowd* | | | | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | 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. **Licence: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)**, as the whole of Mova corpus 0.4, of which this treebank (the agreed school, `mova-school-agreed-en.conllu`) is part. The lessons were written for Mova's primary school. Sentence `school:biology:150-myth-check-do-lemmings-jump-off-cliffs.lesson:3`. **The tree:** Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R5-strong ×1, R6-punct-agree ×2, R8-pos-agree ×1. **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the lesson read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence. See the [release 0.4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/releases/0.4/). - ← previous: [Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs?, 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/150-myth-check-do-lemmings-jump-off-cliffs/2/) - next →: [Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs?, 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/150-myth-check-do-lemmings-jump-off-cliffs/4/) - ↑ back to [the lesson](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/150-myth-check-do-lemmings-jump-off-cliffs/)