---
title: My cousin says zebras are white with black stripes. What do most sci… — Horses, zebras and donkeys · tree and pragmatics
description: My cousin says zebras are white with black stripes. What do most scientists say? Test 4 of lesson 25 «Horses, zebras and donkeys» 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 4 · Horses, zebras and donkeys

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My cousin says zebras are white with black stripes. What do most scientists say?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** cousin, zebras, most scientists · **What happens:** say, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 of lesson 25 «Horses, zebras and donkeys» 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/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* My cousin says zebras are white with black stripes.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t4:1
# text = My cousin says zebras are white with black stripes.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	zebras	zebra	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	stripes	stripe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | My cousin |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | zebras |  |  |  |  | with black stripes; white *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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What do most scientists say?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t4:2
# text = What do most scientists say?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	amod	_	_
4	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | most scientists |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It changes every year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t4:o1:1
# text = It changes every year
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	changes	change	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present | It |  |  |  | year |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She is right, the skin under the hair is white

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t4:o2:1
# text = She is right, the skin under the hair is white
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
7	under	under	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | She |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | the skin under the hair |  |  |  |  | white *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are black-skinned, so black with white stripes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t4:o3:1
# text = They are black-skinned, so black with white stripes
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
3	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	skinned	skin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	stripes	stripe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **skin** | present · passive |  | They |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are grey with no real stripes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t4:o4:1
# text = They are grey with no real stripes
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
6	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	stripes	stripe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | They |  |  |  |  | with no real stripes; grey *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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- ← previous: [Horses, zebras and donkeys, test 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/t3/)
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