---
title: Why might a blue toy be a better buy for your dog than a red one? — Wolves and dogs · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might a blue toy be a better buy for your dog than a red one? Test 6 · ★ of lesson 24 «Wolves and dogs» 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 right.
---

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# Test 6 · ★ · Wolves and dogs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might a blue toy be a better buy for your dog than a red one?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** blue toy · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** better buy

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This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 24 «Wolves and dogs» 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/24-wolves-and-dogs/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t6:1
# text = Why might a blue toy be a better buy for your dog than a red one?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	toy	toy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	buy	buy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | might | a blue toy | a better buy |  |  |  | for your dog; than a red one | 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dogs see blue well, but red looks dull to them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t6:o1:1
# text = Dogs see blue well, but red looks dull to them
1	Dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	nsubj	_	_
8	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
9	dull	dull	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | present | Dogs |  |  |  |  | blue, well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **look** | present | red |  | Dogs *= dog* |  |  | dull *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to they=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dogs are afraid of blue things

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t6:o2:1
# text = Dogs are afraid of blue things
1	Dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Dogs |  |  |  |  | of blue things; afraid *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dogs hate the smell of the red paint used on toys

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t6:o3:1
# text = Dogs hate the smell of the red paint used on toys
1	Dogs	dog	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	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	paint	paint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	toys	toy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hate** | present | Dogs | the smell of the red paint |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer smell=Stimulus |
| 2 | **use** | participle |  | the red paint *not said here* |  | toys |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **smell** |  | the red paint |  |  |  |  |  | nom smell «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Red toys are too heavy for dogs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:24-wolves-and-dogs:t6:o4:1
# text = Red toys are too heavy for dogs
1	Red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	toys	toy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Red toys |  |  |  |  | for dogs; heavy *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.

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- ← previous: [Wolves and dogs, test 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/24-wolves-and-dogs/t5/)
- next →: [Wolves and dogs, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/24-wolves-and-dogs/t7/)
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