---
title: What would happen if a horse's teeth stopped growing but it kept eat… — Horses, zebras and donkeys · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a horse's teeth stopped growing but it kept eating tough grass all its life? Test 8 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 8 · Horses, zebras and donkeys

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a horse's teeth stopped growing but it kept eating tough grass all its life?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** teeth, horse · **What happens:** happen, stop, grow, keep, eat · **To what, where:** tough grass

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t8:1
# text = What would happen if a horse's teeth stopped growing but it kept eating tough grass all its life?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	xcomp	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
14	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	xcomp	_	_
15	tough	tough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	19	det:predet	_	_
18	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **stop** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a horse's teeth |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **grow** | gerund | a horse's teeth *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **keep** | past | horse |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **eat** | gerund | horse *not said here* | tough grass |  |  |  | horse's life *obl:unmarked* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Nothing, teeth never wear down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t8:o1:1
# text = Nothing, teeth never wear down
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	wear	wear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	down	down	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **wear down** | present | Nothing teeth |  |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would get sharper every year

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t8:o2:1
# text = They would get sharper every year
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	sharper	sharp	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | They |  |  |  | year | sharp *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would wear down until it could hardly chew

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t8:o3:1
# text = They would wear down until it could hardly chew
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	wear	wear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	chew	chew	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wear down** | would | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **chew** | could | it |  |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would grow a whole new set of teeth every spring

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys:t8:o4:1
# text = It would grow a whole new set of teeth every spring
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	set	set	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
10	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
11	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | It | a whole new set of teeth |  |  | spring |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location set=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: [Horses, zebras and donkeys, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/25-horses-zebras-and-donkeys/t7/)
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