---
title: State the number of cervical vertebrae, or neck bones, possessed by… — Record-breakers: the biggest and the s… · tree and pragmatics
description: State the number of cervical vertebrae, or neck bones, possessed by the giraffe, in comparison with that of a human being. Exam question 3 of lesson 186 «Record-breakers: the biggest and the smallest» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the ques
---

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# Exam question 3 · Record-breakers: the biggest and the smallest

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
State the number of cervical vertebrae, or neck bones, possessed by the giraffe, in comparison with that of a human being.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** state, possess · **To what, where:** number, comparison, cervical vertebrae

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 3 of lesson 186 «Record-breakers: the biggest and the smallest» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/186-record-breakers-the-biggest-and-the-smallest/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:186-record-breakers-the-biggest-and-the-smallest:e3:1
# text = State the number of cervical vertebrae, or neck bones, possessed by the giraffe, in comparison with that of a human being.
1	State	state	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	cervical	cervical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	vertebrae	vertebra	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	possessed	possess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	giraffe	giraffe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	comparison	comparison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	nmod	_	_
21	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	acl	_	_
24	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **state** *speech: other* | imperative | you *not said here* | the number of cervical vertebrae or neck bones |  | comparison with that |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent number=Topic |
| 2 | **possess** | participle |  | cervical vertebrae or neck bones *not said here* |  |  |  | by the giraffe | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seventy, being ten times that of a human being

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:186-record-breakers-the-biggest-and-the-smallest:e3:o1:1
# text = Seventy, being ten times that of a human being
1	Seventy	seventy	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	cop	_	_
4	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	acl	_	_
10	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | gerund |  | that |  |  | time |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One, considerably elongated

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:186-record-breakers-the-biggest-and-the-smallest:e3:o2:1
# text = One, considerably elongated
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	considerably	considerably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	elongated	elongate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl:relcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **elongate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | considerably *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seven, identical in number to that of a human being

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:186-record-breakers-the-biggest-and-the-smallest:e3:o3:1
# text = Seven, identical in number to that of a human being
1	Seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	identical	identical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
8	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	acl	_	_
11	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fourteen, being twice that of a human being

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:186-record-breakers-the-biggest-and-the-smallest:e3:o4:1
# text = Fourteen, being twice that of a human being
1	Fourteen	fourteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	cop	_	_
4	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	acl	_	_
9	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | gerund |  | that |  |  |  | twice *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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- ← previous: [Record-breakers: the biggest and the s…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/186-record-breakers-the-biggest-and-the-smallest/e2/)
- next →: [Record-breakers: the biggest and the s…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/186-record-breakers-the-biggest-and-the-smallest/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Record-breakers: the biggest and the smallest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/186-record-breakers-the-biggest-and-the-smallest/)