---
title: «my uncle said cactus spines are just thorns from the stem» What is… — Deserts of the world: fennec foxes, fo… · tree and pragmatics
description: «my uncle said cactus spines are just thorns from the stem» What is right? Test 10 · ★ of lesson 182 «Deserts of the world: fennec foxes, fog-drinking beetles, camels and silver ants» 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 10 · ★ · Deserts of the world: fennec foxes, fog-drinking beetles,…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«my uncle said cactus spines are just thorns from the stem» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** uncle, cactus spines · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** thorns, stem · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 182 «Deserts of the world: fennec foxes, fog-drinking beetles, camels and silver ants» 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/182-deserts-of-the-world-fennec-foxes-fog-drinking-beetles-camels-and-silver-ants/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:182-deserts-of-the-world-fennec-foxes-fog-drinking-beetles-camels-and-silver-ants:t10:1
# text = «my uncle said cactus spines are just thorns from the stem» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	cactus	cactus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	spines	spine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	thorns	thorn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	ccomp	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	stem	stem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
14	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	16	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | my uncle |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | cactus spines | thorns |  | the stem |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, they are tiny roots

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:182-deserts-of-the-world-fennec-foxes-fog-drinking-beetles-camels-and-silver-ants:t10:o1:1
# text = No, they are tiny roots
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | they | tiny roots |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, they grow out of the stem bark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:182-deserts-of-the-world-fennec-foxes-fog-drinking-beetles-camels-and-silver-ants:t10:o2:1
# text = Yes, they grow out of the stem bark
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	out	out	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	stem	stem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow out** | present | they | the stem bark |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bark=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, the spines are changed leaves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:182-deserts-of-the-world-fennec-foxes-fog-drinking-beetles-camels-and-silver-ants:t10:o3:1
# text = No, the spines are changed leaves
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	spines	spine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present · passive |  | the spines |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, they are dead flowers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:182-deserts-of-the-world-fennec-foxes-fog-drinking-beetles-camels-and-silver-ants:t10:o4:1
# text = Yes, they are dead flowers
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | they | dead flowers |  |  |  |  | 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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