---
title: Why is a snake's way of eating whole a good fit for an animal that c… — Snakes and lizards · tree and pragmatics
description: Why is a snake's way of eating whole a good fit for an animal that can't chew? Test 12 · ★★★ of lesson 30 «Snakes and lizards» 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 12 · ★★★ · Snakes and lizards

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why is a snake's way of eating whole a good fit for an animal that can't chew?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** way, animal · **What happens:** be, eat, not chew · **To what, where:** way, whole good fit

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 · ★★★ of lesson 30 «Snakes and lizards» 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/30-snakes-and-lizards/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:30-snakes-and-lizards:t12:1
# text = Why is a snake's way of eating whole a good fit for an animal that can't chew?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
9	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	fit	fit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
17	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	chew	chew	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | a snake's way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **eat** | gerund | a snake's way *not said here* | a whole good fit |  |  |  | for a animal | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fit=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **chew** | can | a animal |  |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
Stretchy jaws let it swallow big prey in one piece

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:30-snakes-and-lizards:t12:o1:1
# text = Stretchy jaws let it swallow big prey in one piece
1	Stretchy	stretchy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	jaws	jaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	let	let	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	swallow	swallow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | present | Stretchy jaws | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **swallow** | infinitive |  | big prey |  | one piece |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prey=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It chews its food slowly with its rough tongue instead of teeth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:30-snakes-and-lizards:t12:o2:1
# text = It chews its food slowly with its rough tongue instead of teeth
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	chews	chew	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	12	case	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chew** | present | It | its food |  |  |  | with food's rough tongue; instead teeth; slowly *property* | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It cuts food with its scales

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:30-snakes-and-lizards:t12:o3:1
# text = It cuts food with its scales
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	cuts	cut	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	scales	scale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | present | It | food |  |  |  | with food's scales | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient with scale=Instrument |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It eats only liquid food

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:30-snakes-and-lizards:t12:o4:1
# text = It eats only liquid food
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	eats	eat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	liquid	liquid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present | It | liquid food |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |

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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: [Snakes and lizards, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/30-snakes-and-lizards/t11/)
- next →: [Snakes and lizards, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/30-snakes-and-lizards/e1/)
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