---
title: Why does a slug follow its own trail? — The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does a slug follow its own trail? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 338 «The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs» 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 right.
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does a slug follow its own trail?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** slug · **What happens:** follow · **To what, where:** own trail

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This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 338 «The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs» 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/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t9:1
# text = Why does a slug follow its own trail?
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	slug	slug	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	trail	trail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | present · do-support | a slug | slug's own trail |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trail=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It wants to clean up its mess

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t9:o1:1
# text = It wants to clean up its mess
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	clean	clean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	mess	mess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **clean up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | its mess |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent mess=Patient |
| 3 | **mess** |  | its *= it* |  |  |  |  |  | nom mess «state transitive»: poss=agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is hunting itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t9:o2:1
# text = It is hunting itself
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hunting	hunt	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hunt** | present · progressive | It | itself *= it* |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It cannot turn round

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t9:o3:1
# text = It cannot turn round
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	round	round	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **turn round** | can | It |  |  |  |  | round *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its slime trail helps it find its way home

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs:t9:o4:1
# text = Its slime trail helps it find its way home
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	slime	slime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	trail	trail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	helps	help	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	home	home	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | present | Its slime trail | it |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 2 | **find** | infinitive |  | trail's way |  |  |  | home *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Topic |

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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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