---
title: «don't be a bird brain, mate» Why might a scientist laugh at that? — Animal minds: clever crows, ravens, ja… · tree and pragmatics
description: «don't be a bird brain, mate» Why might a scientist laugh at that? Test 1 · ★★ of lesson 233 «Animal minds: clever crows, ravens, jays and parrots» 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 1 · ★★ · Animal minds: clever crows, ravens, jays and parrots

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«don't be a bird brain, mate» Why might a scientist laugh at that?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, scientist · **What happens:** not be, laugh · **To what, where:** bird brain

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 · ★★ of lesson 233 «Animal minds: clever crows, ravens, jays and parrots» 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/233-animal-minds-clever-crows-ravens-jays-and-parrots/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:233-animal-minds-clever-crows-ravens-jays-and-parrots:t1:1
# text = «don't be a bird brain, mate» Why might a scientist laugh at that?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	brain	brain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
12	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	scientist	scientist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	laugh	laugh	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | imperative · do-support | you *not said here* | a bird brain |  |  |  | mate *vocative* | tree rules |
| 2 | **laugh** | might | a scientist |  |  | a bird brain |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
Birds have the biggest brains on Earth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:233-animal-minds-clever-crows-ravens-jays-and-parrots:t1:o1:1
# text = Birds have the biggest brains on Earth
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	biggest	big	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	brains	brain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Birds | the biggest brains |  | Earth |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brain=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only fish are clever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:233-animal-minds-clever-crows-ravens-jays-and-parrots:t1:o2:1
# text = Only fish are clever
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | fish |  |  |  |  | clever *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds can talk like people

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:233-animal-minds-clever-crows-ravens-jays-and-parrots:t1:o3:1
# text = Birds can talk like people
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | can | Birds |  |  |  |  | like people | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crows and parrots are among the cleverest animals

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:233-animal-minds-clever-crows-ravens-jays-and-parrots:t1:o4:1
# text = Crows and parrots are among the cleverest animals
1	Crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	parrots	parrot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	among	among	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	cleverest	clever	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	amod	_	_
8	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Crows and parrots |  |  |  |  | among the cleverest animals | tree rules |

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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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- ← previous: [Hidden senses: magnetic birds and turt…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/e4/)
- next →: [Animal minds: clever crows, ravens, ja…, test 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/233-animal-minds-clever-crows-ravens-jays-and-parrots/t2/)
- ↑ back to [Animal minds: clever crows, ravens, jays and parrots](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/233-animal-minds-clever-crows-ravens-jays-and-parrots/)