---
title: A fish swims into the open mouth of an alligator snapping turtle. Why? — Turtles and tortoises · tree and pragmatics
description: A fish swims into the open mouth of an alligator snapping turtle. Why? Test 7 of lesson 31 «Turtles and tortoises» 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/31-turtles-and-tortoises/t7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [questions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/) / [Turtles and tortoises](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/31-turtles-and-tortoises/) / t7

# Test 7 · Turtles and tortoises

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A fish swims into the open mouth of an alligator snapping turtle. Why?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** fish, alligator · **What happens:** swim, snap · **To what, where:** open mouth, turtle

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 of lesson 31 «Turtles and tortoises» 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/31-turtles-and-tortoises/#t7).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A fish swims into the open mouth of an alligator snapping turtle.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t7:1
# text = A fish swims into the open mouth of an alligator snapping turtle.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	swims	swim	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	alligator	alligator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	snapping	snap	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	turtle	turtle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swim** | present | a fish |  |  | the open mouth of a alligator |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into mouth=Destination |
| 2 | **snap** | gerund | a alligator *not said here* | turtle |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location turtle=Theme |

<!-- .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:* Why?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t7:2
# text = Why?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Turtles pull fish in with magnets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t7:o1:1
# text = Turtles pull fish in with magnets
1	Turtles	turtle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	pull	pull	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	6	case	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	4	fixed	_	_
6	magnets	magnet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull** | present | Turtles | fish |  | magnets |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP ADJP-Result»: agent=Agent fish=Result |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was cleaning the turtle's teeth

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t7:o2:1
# text = It was cleaning the turtle's teeth
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	_	_
3	cleaning	clean	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	turtle	turtle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clean** | past · progressive | It | the turtle's teeth |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent tooth=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It wanted to hide from the bigger fish that were chasing it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t7:o3:1
# text = It wanted to hide from the bigger fish that were chasing it
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	hide	hide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	amod	_	_
8	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	chasing	chase	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **hide** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | from the bigger fish | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent from fish=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **chase** | past · progressive | the bigger fish | it |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It took the pink tongue flap for a worm

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:31-turtles-and-tortoises:t7:o4:1
# text = It took the pink tongue flap for a worm
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	pink	pink	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	flap	flap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	worm	worm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | It | the pink tongue flap |  |  |  | for a worm | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent flap=Theme for worm=Beneficiary |

<!-- div src -->

**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 -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Turtles and tortoises, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/31-turtles-and-tortoises/t6/)
- next →: [Turtles and tortoises, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/31-turtles-and-tortoises/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Turtles and tortoises](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/31-turtles-and-tortoises/)