---
title: Why do toenails take longer to grow out than fingernails? — Nails, sweat and smells: smelly feet,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do toenails take longer to grow out than fingernails? Test 9 of lesson 356 «Nails, sweat and smells: smelly feet, armpits and bad breath» 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.
---

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# Test 9 · Nails, sweat and smells: smelly feet, armpits and bad breath

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do toenails take longer to grow out than fingernails?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** toenails · **What happens:** take, grow out

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 356 «Nails, sweat and smells: smelly feet, armpits and bad breath» 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/356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath/#t9).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath:t9:1
# text = Why do toenails take longer to grow out than fingernails?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	toenails	toenail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	fingernails	fingernail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | present · do-support | toenails |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **grow out** | to-infinitive | toenails *not said here* |  |  |  |  | than fingernails | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Toenails grow backwards

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath:t9:o1:1
# text = Toenails grow backwards
1	Toenails	toenail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

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

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Toenails grow more slowly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath:t9:o2:1
# text = Toenails grow more slowly
1	Toenails	toenail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
4	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Toenails stop growing in winter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath:t9:o3:1
# text = Toenails stop growing in winter
1	Toenails	toenail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | present | Toenails |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **grow** | gerund | Toenails *not said here* |  |  |  | winter |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Toenails are much longer

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath:t9:o4:1
# text = Toenails are much longer
1	Toenails	toenail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	1	advmod	_	_
```

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

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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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- ← previous: [Nails, sweat and smells: smelly feet,…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath/t8/)
- next →: [Nails, sweat and smells: smelly feet,…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath/t10/)
- ↑ back to [Nails, sweat and smells: smelly feet, armpits and bad breath](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/356-nails-sweat-and-smells-smelly-feet-armpits-and-bad-breath/)