---
title: Why do elephants leave some acacia trees alone even when they are hu… — Myth check: are elephants scared of mi… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do elephants leave some acacia trees alone even when they are hungry? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 149 «Myth check: are elephants scared of mice?» 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 11 · ★★ · Myth check: are elephants scared of mice?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do elephants leave some acacia trees alone even when they are hungry?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** elephants · **What happens:** leave, be · **To what, where:** acacia trees

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 149 «Myth check: are elephants scared of mice?» 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/149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t11:1
# text = Why do elephants leave some acacia trees alone even when they are hungry?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	elephants	elephant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
6	acacia	acacia	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
9	even	even	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
10	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	13	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | present · do-support | elephants | some acacia trees |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | elephants *= elephant* |  |  |  |  | hungry *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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The trees have no leaves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t11:o1:1
# text = The trees have no leaves
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | the trees | no leaves |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mice live in those trees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t11:o2:1
# text = Mice live in those trees
1	Mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | present | Mice |  |  | that trees |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in tree=Location |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ants inside the thorns bite the soft inside of their trunks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t11:o3:1
# text = Ants inside the thorns bite the soft inside of their trunks
1	Ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	thorns	thorn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	bite	bite	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	inside	inside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	trunks	trunk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bite** | present | Ants inside the thorns | the soft inside of Ants's trunks |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent inside=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The trees are too tall for them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t11:o4:1
# text = The trees are too tall for them
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the trees |  |  |  |  | for them *= they*; tall *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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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