---
title: A fire-bellied toad suddenly arches its back and shows a red belly.… — Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croa… · tree and pragmatics
description: A fire-bellied toad suddenly arches its back and shows a red belly. What is it saying? Test 9 · ★★ of lesson 309 «Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croaking choruses, toad crossings and the fire-bellied toad» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of 
---

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# Test 9 · ★★ · Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croaking choruses, toad…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fire-bellied toad suddenly arches its back and shows a red belly. What is it saying?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** bellied toad, toad · **What happens:** belly, arch, show, say · **To what, where:** back, red belly · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 309 «Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croaking choruses, toad crossings and the fire-bellied toad» 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/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A fire-bellied toad suddenly arches its back and shows a red belly.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad:t9:1
# text = A fire-bellied toad suddenly arches its back and shows a red belly.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	bellied	belly	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	toad	toad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	arches	arch	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	belly	belly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **belly** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **arch** | present | a bellied toad | toad's back |  |  |  | suddenly *property* | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent back=Patient |
| 3 | **show** | present | a bellied toad *not said here* | a red belly |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent belly=Recipient |

<!-- .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 is it saying?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad:t9:2
# text = What is it saying?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · progressive | toad |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I am too hot

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad:t9:o1:1
# text = I am too hot
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | hot *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Please feed me now, I am hungry

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad:t9:o2:1
# text = Please feed me now, I am hungry
1	Please	please	INTJ	UH	_	2	discourse	_	_
2	feed	feed	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feed** | imperative | you *not said here* |  | me |  | now |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stay away, my skin tastes bad

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad:t9:o3:1
# text = Stay away, my skin tastes bad
1	Stay	stay	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	away	away	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	tastes	taste	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
7	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay away** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **taste** | present | my skin |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I want to play

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad:t9:o4:1
# text = I want to play
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **play** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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