---
title: A shark grabs at a mimic octopus, which suddenly looks like a stripe… — Animal minds: the octopus, escape arti… · tree and pragmatics
description: A shark grabs at a mimic octopus, which suddenly looks like a striped sea snake. Why would the shark back off? Test 2 · ★★ of lesson 234 «Animal minds: the octopus, escape artist and puzzle solver» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the questio
---

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# Test 2 · ★★ · Animal minds: the octopus, escape artist and puzzle solver

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A shark grabs at a mimic octopus, which suddenly looks like a striped sea snake. Why would the shark back off?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** shark, mimic octopus · **What happens:** grab, look · **To what, where:** mimic octopus

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This is test 2 · ★★ of lesson 234 «Animal minds: the octopus, escape artist and puzzle solver» 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/234-animal-minds-the-octopus-escape-artist-and-puzzle-solver/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A shark grabs at a mimic octopus, which suddenly looks like a striped sea snake.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:234-animal-minds-the-octopus-escape-artist-and-puzzle-solver:t2:1
# text = A shark grabs at a mimic octopus, which suddenly looks like a striped sea snake.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grabs	grab	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	mimic	mimic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	octopus	octopus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	like	like	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	striped	striped	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
15	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grab** | present | a shark |  |  | a mimic octopus |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **look** | present | a mimic octopus |  |  |  |  | like a striped sea snake; suddenly *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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:* Why would the shark back off?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:234-animal-minds-the-octopus-escape-artist-and-puzzle-solver:t2:2
# text = Why would the shark back off?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	off	off	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	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 -->
Sea snakes are dangerous, so the trick scares it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:234-animal-minds-the-octopus-escape-artist-and-puzzle-solver:t2:o1:1
# text = Sea snakes are dangerous, so the trick scares it
1	Sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	trick	trick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	scares	scare	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Sea snakes |  |  |  |  | dangerous *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **scare** | present | the trick | it |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sharks hate the colour of the stripes, so they always swim off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:234-animal-minds-the-octopus-escape-artist-and-puzzle-solver:t2:o2:1
# text = Sharks hate the colour of the stripes, so they always swim off
1	Sharks	shark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hate	hate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stripes	stripe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	12	advmod	_	_
12	swim	swim	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	off	off	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hate** | present | Sharks | the colour of the stripes |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer colour=Stimulus |
| 2 | **swim off** | present | Sharks *= shark* |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The octopus turned into a real snake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:234-animal-minds-the-octopus-escape-artist-and-puzzle-solver:t2:o3:1
# text = The octopus turned into a real snake
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	octopus	octopus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past | the octopus |  |  |  |  | into a real snake *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into snake=Result |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The shark was full anyway

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:234-animal-minds-the-octopus-escape-artist-and-puzzle-solver:t2:o4:1
# text = The shark was full anyway
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	anyway	anyway	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the shark |  |  |  |  | anyway, full *property* | 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.

<!-- /div -->

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