---
title: What would happen if a lion tried to grab a zebra from behind? — Marty, Gloria and Melman: real zebras,… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a lion tried to grab a zebra from behind? Test 8 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 8 · Marty, Gloria and Melman: real zebras, hippos and giraffes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a lion tried to grab a zebra from behind?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** lion · **What happens:** happen, try, grab · **To what, where:** zebra

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This is test 8 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t8:1
# text = What would happen if a lion tried to grab a zebra from behind?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	grab	grab	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	zebra	zebra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	behind	behind	ADV	RB	_	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **try** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a lion |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **grab** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a lion *not said here* | a zebra |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent zebra=Theme from behind=Source |

<!-- .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 -->
The lion would always win easily

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t8:o1:1
# text = The lion would always win easily
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	win	win	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **win** | would | the lion |  |  |  |  | always, easily *property* | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The zebra would lie down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t8:o2:1
# text = The zebra would lie down
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	zebra	zebra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie down** | would | the zebra |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The zebra would climb up a tree to get away from it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t8:o3:1
# text = The zebra would climb up a tree to get away from it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	zebra	zebra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
10	away	away	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **climb up** | would | the zebra | a tree |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location tree=Theme |
| 2 | **get away** | to-infinitive | the zebra *not said here* |  |  |  |  | from zebra; away *property* | vn withdraw-82-2 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from it=Source |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It could get a kick hard enough to break its jaw

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:128-madagascar-real-zebras-hippos-and-giraffes:t8:o4:1
# text = It could get a kick hard enough to break its jaw
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	kick	kick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
7	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	jaw	jaw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | could | It | a kick |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer kick=Stimulus |
| 2 | **break** | to-infinitive |  | kick's jaw |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer jaw=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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