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I'd assumed it was done so you focused on the how verb endings and sentence structure worked rather than memorise a whole bunch of standard sentences - it forces you to think a bit more when the sentence is non-standard? Most of what Duolingo uses in sentences is pretty useless but knowing how sentences fit together mean you can makes heads and tails or stuff.
Could just be they're fucking tired of writing "how much is a beer?" in 400 different tenses.
hippy
I think the use of sentences with unexpected subjects / construction is a fashionable learning technique. Dunno what research there is to support it.