---
title: My uncle says elephants can grow a new tusk if one is cut off. Right? — Elephants: families, tusks, ears and m… · tree and pragmatics
description: My uncle says elephants can grow a new tusk if one is cut off. Right? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 22 «Elephants: families, tusks, ears and memory» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Elephants: families, tusks, ears and memory

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My uncle says elephants can grow a new tusk if one is cut off. Right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** uncle, elephants · **What happens:** say, grow, cut off · **To what, where:** new tusk, one · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 22 «Elephants: families, tusks, ears and memory» 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/22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* My uncle says elephants can grow a new tusk if one is cut off.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory:t4:1
# text = My uncle says elephants can grow a new tusk if one is cut off.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	elephants	elephant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	tusk	tusk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	advcl	_	_
14	off	off	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | My uncle |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **grow** | can | elephants | a new tusk |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location tusk=Theme |
| 3 | **cut off** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · passive |  | one |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |

<!-- .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:* Right?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory:t4:2
# text = Right?
1	Right	right	INTJ	UH	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, a tusk cut off at the root never grows back

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory:t4:o1:1
# text = No, a tusk cut off at the root never grows back
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	11	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tusk	tusk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
5	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	back	back	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut off** | participle |  | a tusk *not said here* |  | the root |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **not** **grow back** | present | a tusk |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, because elephants don't have any tusks to cut

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory:t4:o2:1
# text = No, because elephants don't have any tusks to cut
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	elephants	elephant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	tusks	tusk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **have** | present · do-support | elephants | any tusks |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tusk=Patient |
| 2 | **cut** | to-infinitive | elephants *not said here* | any tusks *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, a new one grows in a month

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory:t4:o3:1
# text = Yes, a new one grows in a month
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | a new one |  |  |  | month |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only on Asian elephants

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory:t4:o4:1
# text = Yes, but only on Asian elephants
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	Asian	Asian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	elephants	elephant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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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- ↑ back to [Elephants: families, tusks, ears and memory](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/22-elephants-families-tusks-ears-memory/)