---
title: Why might a baby's kneecap be soft cartilage at first? — Bones by name: hips, legs and feet, an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might a baby's kneecap be soft cartilage at first? Test 11 · ★★ of lesson 359 «Bones by name: hips, legs and feet, and the extra bones of a baby» 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 11 · ★★ · Bones by name: hips, legs and feet, and the extra bones of…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might a baby's kneecap be soft cartilage at first?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** kneecap · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** soft cartilage

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★ of lesson 359 «Bones by name: hips, legs and feet, and the extra bones of a baby» 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/359-bones-by-name-hips-legs-and-feet-and-the-extra-bones-of-a-baby/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:359-bones-by-name-hips-legs-and-feet-and-the-extra-bones-of-a-baby:t11:1
# text = Why might a baby's kneecap be soft cartilage at first?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	kneecap	kneecap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
8	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	cartilage	cartilage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | might | a baby's kneecap | soft cartilage |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Soft cartilage bends safely while the baby crawls and grows, and turns to bone later

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:359-bones-by-name-hips-legs-and-feet-and-the-extra-bones-of-a-baby:t11:o1:1
# text = Soft cartilage bends safely while the baby crawls and grows, and turns to bone later
1	Soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	cartilage	cartilage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	bends	bend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	safely	safely	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	crawls	crawl	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	turns	turn	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
16	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	13	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bend** | present | Soft cartilage |  |  |  |  | safely *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **crawl** | present | the baby |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **grow** | present | the baby *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **turn** | present | Soft cartilage *not said here* |  |  | bone |  | late *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to bone=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Babies do not need knees

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:359-bones-by-name-hips-legs-and-feet-and-the-extra-bones-of-a-baby:t11:o2:1
# text = Babies do not need knees
1	Babies	baby	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	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | present · do-support | Babies | knees |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot knee=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The kneecap is missing in babies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:359-bones-by-name-hips-legs-and-feet-and-the-extra-bones-of-a-baby:t11:o3:1
# text = The kneecap is missing in babies
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	kneecap	kneecap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	missing	missing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Babies' bones are all made of fat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:359-bones-by-name-hips-legs-and-feet-and-the-extra-bones-of-a-baby:t11:o4:1
# text = Babies' bones are all made of fat
1	Babies	baby	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	'	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	all	all	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | Babies's bones |  |  |  | of fat; all *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

<!-- 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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- ← previous: [Bones by name: hips, legs and feet, an…, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/359-bones-by-name-hips-legs-and-feet-and-the-extra-bones-of-a-baby/t10/)
- next →: [Bones by name: hips, legs and feet, an…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/359-bones-by-name-hips-legs-and-feet-and-the-extra-bones-of-a-baby/e1/)
- ↑ back to [Bones by name: hips, legs and feet, and the extra bones of a baby](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/359-bones-by-name-hips-legs-and-feet-and-the-extra-bones-of-a-baby/)