---
title: «a whale's brain is massive, so a whale must be cleverer than me» Wh… — Animal minds: elephants' memory, feeli… · tree and pragmatics
description: «a whale's brain is massive, so a whale must be cleverer than me» What is wrong? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 236 «Animal minds: elephants' memory, feelings and the mouse myth» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth/t5/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [Animal minds: elephants' memory, feeli…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth/) / t5

# Test 5 · ★★ · Animal minds: elephants' memory, feelings and the mouse myth

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«a whale's brain is massive, so a whale must be cleverer than me» What is wrong?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** brain, whale · **What happens:** be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 236 «Animal minds: elephants' memory, feelings and the mouse myth» 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/236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth:t5:1
# text = «a whale's brain is massive, so a whale must be cleverer than me» What is wrong?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	brain	brain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	massive	massive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
12	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	cop	_	_
14	cleverer	clever	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	parataxis	_	_
15	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
18	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	20	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | a whale's brain |  |  |  |  | massive *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | must | a whale |  |  |  |  | than me; clever *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | wrong *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 -->
Whales have no brains

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth:t5:o1:1
# text = Whales have no brains
1	Whales	whale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	brains	brain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Whales | no brains |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brain=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, bigger brains always win

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth:t5:o2:1
# text = Nothing, bigger brains always win
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	amod	_	_
4	brains	brain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
6	win	win	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **win** | present | bigger brains |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A big body needs a big brain, so size alone does not prove cleverness

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth:t5:o3:1
# text = A big body needs a big brain, so size alone does not prove cleverness
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	brain	brain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
10	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
11	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	prove	prove	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
15	cleverness	cleverness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | a big body | a big brain |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot brain=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **prove** | present · do-support | size | cleverness |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cleverness=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

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

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth:t5:o4:1
# text = Only small brains are clever
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	brains	brain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	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 | small brains |  |  |  |  | clever *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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Animal minds: elephants' memory, feeli…, test 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth/t4/)
- next →: [Animal minds: elephants' memory, feeli…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth/t6/)
- ↑ back to [Animal minds: elephants' memory, feelings and the mouse myth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/236-animal-minds-elephants-memory-feelings-and-the-mouse-myth/)