---
title: «mate reckons porcupines fire their spikes like arrows» What is right? — Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marm… · tree and pragmatics
description: «mate reckons porcupines fire their spikes like arrows» What is right? Test 5 of lesson 317 «Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marmots, prairie dogs, porcupines, chinchillas and dormice» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of ea
---

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# Test 5 · Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marmots, prairie dogs, p…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«mate reckons porcupines fire their spikes like arrows» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** mate, their · **What happens:** reckon, be, spike · **To what, where:** porcupines fire · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 317 «Rodents of every kind: squirrels, marmots, prairie dogs, porcupines, chinchillas and dormice» 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/317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t5:1
# text = «mate reckons porcupines fire their spikes like arrows» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reckons	reckon	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	porcupines	porcupine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	compound	_	_
5	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	spikes	spike	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
8	like	like	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	arrows	arrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
11	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	13	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reckon** *in a quote* | present | mate | porcupines fire |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **spike** *in a quote* |  | their *= they* |  |  |  |  | like arrows | nom spike «event intransitive»: poss=agent like=obl |

<!-- .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 -->
True, they reload every hour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t5:o1:1
# text = True, they reload every hour
1	True	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	reload	reload	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reload** | present | they |  |  |  | hour |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They cannot; the barbed quills stick in when touched

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t5:o2:1
# text = They cannot; the barbed quills stick in when touched
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	barbed	barbed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	quills	quill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	stick	stick	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
11	touched	touch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **stick in** | can | They |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **touch** | participle | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
True, they can shoot them the length of a football pitch

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t5:o3:1
# text = True, they can shoot them the length of a football pitch
1	True	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	shoot	shoot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	football	football	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shoot** | can | they | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Destination length=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
True, but only the baby ones

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:317-rodents-of-every-kind-squirrels-marmots-prairie-dogs-porcupines-chinchillas-and-dormice:t5:o4:1
# text = True, but only the baby ones
1	True	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

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

<!-- 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 -->

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