--- title: Some swiftlets build nests almost entirely from their own hardened s… — Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds an… · tree and pragmatics description: Some swiftlets build nests almost entirely from their own hardened spit, and people collect them for bird's nest soup, an expensive food in China; the nests are costly because they must be collected carefully from cave walls so the birds can still breed. Who acts: swiftlets, people, nests, birds. A --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/14/) [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/) / [Animal builders: termite mounds, weave…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/) / 14 # Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other nest makers, sentence 14 Some swiftlets build nests almost entirely from their own hardened spit, and people collect them for bird's nest soup, an expensive food in China; the nests are costly because they must be collected carefully from cave walls so the birds can still breed. **Who acts:** swiftlets, people, nests, birds · **What happens:** build, harden, collect, be, breed · **To what, where:** nests, own hardened spit, swiftlets, people, cave walls This is a sentence of the lesson «Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other nest makers» 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 (swiftlets, people, nests, birds), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = school:biology:243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers.lesson:14 # text = Some swiftlets build nests almost entirely from their own hardened spit, and people collect them for bird's nest soup, an expensive food in China; the nests are costly because they must be collected carefully from cave walls so the birds can still breed. # source = school lesson (ours) # course = biology # lesson = 243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers.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 ×2 1 Some some DET DT PronType=Ind 2 det _ _ 2 swiftlets swiftlet NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nsubj _ _ 3 build build VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 nests nest NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obj _ _ 5 almost almost ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 6 entirely entirely ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 7 from from ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 8 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 9 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 10 hardened harden VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 amod _ _ 11 spit spit NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 12 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 14 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nsubj _ _ 15 collect collect VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ Agree=R5-strong|Haiku=11:conj|HaikuPos=VERB:VB:VerbForm=Inf 16 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obj _ _ 17 for for ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 18 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod:poss _ _ 19 's 's PART POS _ 18 case _ _ 20 nest nest NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 compound _ _ 21 soup soup NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 22 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 24 expensive expensive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 appos _ Agree=R5-strong|Haiku=11:conj 26 in in ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 China China PROPN NNP Number=Sing 25 nmod _ _ 28 ; ; PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 nests nest NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 nsubj _ _ 31 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 32 costly costly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 parataxis _ _ 33 because because SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 34 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 36 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 37 aux:pass _ _ 37 collected collect VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 32 advcl _ _ 38 carefully carefully ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ _ 39 from from ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 cave cave NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ _ 41 walls wall NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obl _ _ 42 so so SCONJ IN _ 47 mark _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 birds bird NOUN NNS Number=Plur 47 nsubj _ _ 45 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 47 aux _ _ 46 still still ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 47 breed breed VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 advcl _ _ 48 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} No stored speech act for this sentence. | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **build** | present | some swiftlets | nests | | swiftlets's own hardened spit | | entirely *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: agent=Asset nest=Product from spit=Material | | 2 | **harden** | participle | | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 3 | **collect** | present | people | swiftlets *= swiftlet* | | | | for bird's nest soup | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 4 | **is** | present | the nests | | | | | costly *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **collect** | must · passive | | people | | cave walls | | carefully *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: subject=Theme from wall=Source | | 6 | **breed** | can | the birds | | | | still | | tree rules | 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:243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers.lesson:14`. **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 ×2. **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: [Animal builders: termite mounds, weave…, 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/13/) - next →: [Animal builders: termite mounds, weave…, 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/15/) - ↑ back to [the lesson](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/)