---
title: «zebras are white horses with black paint basically» What is right? — Marty, Gloria and Melman: real zebras,… · tree and pragmatics
description: «zebras are white horses with black paint basically» What is right? Test 1 of lesson 128 «Marty, Gloria and Melman: real zebras, hippos and giraffes» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 1 · Marty, Gloria and Melman: real zebras, hippos and giraffes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«zebras are white horses with black paint basically» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** zebras, white horses · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** white horses

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 of lesson 128 «Marty, Gloria and Melman: real zebras, hippos and giraffes» of the biology 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/biology/128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t1:1
# text = «zebras are white horses with black paint basically» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	zebras	zebra	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	paint	paint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	basically	basically	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	13	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | zebras | white horses |  |  |  | with black paint | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | white horses |  |  |  |  | basically, right *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Zebras have black skin and are not tame horses

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t1:o1:1
# text = Zebras have black skin and are not tame horses
1	Zebras	zebra	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	tame	tame	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Zebras | black skin |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **is a** | present | Zebras *not said here* | tame horses |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Right, they are just white horses painted with black stripes by nature

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t1:o2:1
# text = Right, they are just white horses painted with black stripes by nature
1	Right	right	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
8	painted	paint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	stripes	stripe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | they | white horses |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **paint** | participle |  | white horses *not said here* |  |  |  | with black stripes; by nature | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: agent=Agent by nature=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wrong, zebras are a kind of cow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t1:o3:1
# text = Wrong, zebras are a kind of cow
1	Wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	zebras	zebra	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Wrong zebras | a kind |  |  |  | of cow | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Right, any horse can become a zebra

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t1:o4:1
# text = Right, any horse can become a zebra
1	Right	right	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	zebra	zebra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | can | any horse | a zebra |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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