---
title: Why would a snail with only a few big teeth have trouble? — Unusual pets: stick insects, giant sna… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a snail with only a few big teeth have trouble? Test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 330 «Unusual pets: stick insects, giant snails, ant farms and hermit crabs» 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 
---

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# Test 11 · ★★★ · Unusual pets: stick insects, giant snails, ant farms and h…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a snail with only a few big teeth have trouble?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** snail · **What happens:** have · **To what, where:** trouble

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 330 «Unusual pets: stick insects, giant snails, ant farms and hermit crabs» 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/330-unusual-pets-stick-insects-giant-snails-ant-farms-and-hermit-crabs/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:330-unusual-pets-stick-insects-giant-snails-ant-farms-and-hermit-crabs:t11:1
# text = Why would a snail with only a few big teeth have trouble?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	snail	snail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
11	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would | a snail with a few big teeth | trouble |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trouble=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
Its teeth wear down, so thousands of small ones replaced in rows work better

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:330-unusual-pets-stick-insects-giant-snails-ant-farms-and-hermit-crabs:t11:o1:1
# text = Its teeth wear down, so thousands of small ones replaced in rows work better
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wear	wear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
7	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
11	replaced	replace	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	rows	row	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
14	work	work	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	14	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wear down** | present | Its teeth |  |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **replace** | participle |  | small ones *not said here* |  | rows |  |  | vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **work** | present | thousands of small ones |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A few big teeth would let it chew through metal and stone, which would hurt it

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:330-unusual-pets-stick-insects-giant-snails-ant-farms-and-hermit-crabs:t11:o2:1
# text = A few big teeth would let it chew through metal and stone, which would hurt it
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	chew	chew	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	hurt	hurt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | would | a few big teeth | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **chew** | infinitive |  |  |  | metal and stone |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **hurt** | would |  | stone |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Big teeth would make it too fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:330-unusual-pets-stick-insects-giant-snails-ant-farms-and-hermit-crabs:t11:o3:1
# text = Big teeth would make it too fast
1	Big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | would | Big teeth | it |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Snails do not need to eat at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:330-unusual-pets-stick-insects-giant-snails-ant-farms-and-hermit-crabs:t11:o4:1
# text = Snails do not need to eat at all
1	Snails	snail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | present · do-support | Snails |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Snails *not said here* |  |  | all |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «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.

<!-- /div -->

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