---
title: Someone holds a small snake right in front of the camera and stands… — Big snakes: pythons, boas and anaconda… · tree and pragmatics
description: Someone holds a small snake right in front of the camera and stands back. Why does the snake look huge in the photo? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 321 «Big snakes: pythons, boas and anacondas, and how big they really get» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Big snakes: pythons, boas and anacondas, and how big they…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Someone holds a small snake right in front of the camera and stands back. Why does the snake look huge in the photo?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Someone, snake · **What happens:** hold, stand back, look · **To what, where:** small snake, front

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This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 321 «Big snakes: pythons, boas and anacondas, and how big they really get» 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/321-big-snakes-pythons-boas-and-anacondas-and-how-big-they-really-get/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Someone holds a small snake right in front of the camera and stands back.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:321-big-snakes-pythons-boas-and-anacondas-and-how-big-they-really-get:t9:1
# text = Someone holds a small snake right in front of the camera and stands back.
1	Someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
2	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	right	right	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	camera	camera	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	stands	stand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	back	back	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present | Someone | a small snake |  | front of the camera |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent snake=Theme in front=Location |
| 2 | **stand back** | present | Someone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Why does the snake look huge in the photo?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:321-big-snakes-pythons-boas-and-anacondas-and-how-big-they-really-get:t9:2
# text = Why does the snake look huge in the photo?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	photo	photo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | present · do-support | the snake |  |  |  |  | huge *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Snakes really grow when they are scared

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:321-big-snakes-pythons-boas-and-anacondas-and-how-big-they-really-get:t9:o1:1
# text = Snakes really grow when they are scared
1	Snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	really	really	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	7	mark	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	scared	scared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | Snakes |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | Snakes *= snake* |  |  |  |  | scared *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The camera adds metres to snakes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:321-big-snakes-pythons-boas-and-anacondas-and-how-big-they-really-get:t9:o2:1
# text = The camera adds metres to snakes
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	camera	camera	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	adds	add	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	metres	metre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | present | the camera | metres |  |  |  | to snakes | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent metre=Patient to snake=Co-Patient |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Things nearer the camera look bigger than they are

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:321-big-snakes-pythons-boas-and-anacondas-and-how-big-they-really-get:t9:o3:1
# text = Things nearer the camera look bigger than they are
1	Things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	camera	camera	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
5	look	look	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
6	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	xcomp	_	_
7	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | big *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **does** | present | Things *= thing* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The snake puffs up for photos

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:321-big-snakes-pythons-boas-and-anacondas-and-how-big-they-really-get:t9:o4:1
# text = The snake puffs up for photos
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	puffs	puff	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	photos	photo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **puff up** | present | the snake |  |  |  |  | for photos | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source |

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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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