---
title: Why are danger signs and warning tape yellow and black? — Defences: poison, warning colours and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why are danger signs and warning tape yellow and black? Test 9 of lesson 247 «Defences: poison, warning colours and mimics» 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 9 · Defences: poison, warning colours and mimics

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why are danger signs and warning tape yellow and black?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** danger signs

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 247 «Defences: poison, warning colours and mimics» 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/247-defences-poison-warning-colours-and-mimics/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:247-defences-poison-warning-colours-and-mimics:t9:1
# text = Why are danger signs and warning tape yellow and black?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	warning	warning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	tape	tape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | danger signs |  |  |  | warning tape *nmod* | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because those colours glow in the dark

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:247-defences-poison-warning-colours-and-mimics:t9:o1:1
# text = Because those colours glow in the dark
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	glow	glow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **glow** | present | that colours |  |  | the dark |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in dark=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was chosen by a coin toss

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:247-defences-poison-warning-colours-and-mimics:t9:o2:1
# text = It was chosen by a coin toss
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	coin	coin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	toss	toss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | past · passive | a coin toss | It |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are the cheapest paints

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:247-defences-poison-warning-colours-and-mimics:t9:o3:1
# text = They are the cheapest paints
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	cheapest	cheap	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	paints	paint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | the cheapest paints |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
People copied nature's warning colours

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:247-defences-poison-warning-colours-and-mimics:t9:o4:1
# text = People copied nature's warning colours
1	People	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	copied	copy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	warning	warning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **copy** | past | People | nature's warning colours |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=Theme |

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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: [Defences: poison, warning colours and…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/247-defences-poison-warning-colours-and-mimics/t8/)
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