---
title: A mouse crawls into a sleeping elephant's trunk in a cartoon and the… — Myth check: are elephants scared of mi… · tree and pragmatics
description: A mouse crawls into a sleeping elephant's trunk in a cartoon and the elephant goes mad. What would really happen? Test 8 · ★★ 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 
---

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# Test 8 · ★★ · Myth check: are elephants scared of mice?

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A mouse crawls into a sleeping elephant's trunk in a cartoon and the elephant goes mad. What would really happen?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mouse, elephant · **What happens:** crawl, go, happen · **To what, where:** trunk

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A mouse crawls into a sleeping elephant's trunk in a cartoon and the elephant goes mad.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t8:1
# text = A mouse crawls into a sleeping elephant's trunk in a cartoon and the elephant goes mad.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	crawls	crawl	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	sleeping	sleeping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
17	mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crawl** | present | a mouse |  |  | a sleeping elephant's trunk |  | in a cartoon | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into trunk=Destination |
| 2 | **go** | present | the elephant |  |  |  |  | mad *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What would really happen?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t8:2
# text = What would really happen?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	really	really	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	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 |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The elephant could never breathe through its trunk again

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t8:o1:1
# text = The elephant could never breathe through its trunk again
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	again	again	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **breathe** | could | the elephant |  |  | elephant's trunk | again |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The mouse would live happily in the trunk for years

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t8:o2:1
# text = The mouse would live happily in the trunk for years
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	happily	happily	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | would | the mouse |  |  | the trunk | year | happily *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in trunk=Location |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The elephant would blow it out with one huge snort

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t8:o3:1
# text = The elephant would blow it out with one huge snort
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	blow	blow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
9	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	snort	snort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **blow out** | would | the elephant | it |  |  |  | with one huge snort | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The mouse would climb up the trunk into the elephant's head and stay there

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:149-myth-check-are-elephants-scared-of-mice:t8:o4:1
# text = The mouse would climb up the trunk into the elephant's head and stay there
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mouse	mouse	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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
15	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **climb up** | would | the mouse | the trunk |  | the elephant's head |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **stay** | infinitive | the mouse *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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.

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