---
title: Why do people sneeze into their elbow and not their hand? — The body's rough side: burps, farts, s… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why do people sneeze into their elbow and not their hand? Test 5 of lesson 364 «The body's rough side: burps, farts, snot, sneezes, hiccups and poo» 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 5 · The body's rough side: burps, farts, snot, sneezes, hiccup…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why do people sneeze into their elbow and not their hand?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** people · **What happens:** sneeze · **To what, where:** elbow

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 364 «The body's rough side: burps, farts, snot, sneezes, hiccups and poo» 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/364-the-body-s-rough-side-burps-farts-snot-sneezes-hiccups-and-poo/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:364-the-body-s-rough-side-burps-farts-snot-sneezes-hiccups-and-poo:t5:1
# text = Why do people sneeze into their elbow and not their hand?
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	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sneeze	sneeze	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	elbow	elbow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sneeze** | present · do-support | people |  |  | people's elbow and people's hand |  |  | vn hiccup-40.1.1 «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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sneezing into hands hurts the fingers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:364-the-body-s-rough-side-burps-farts-snot-sneezes-hiccups-and-poo:t5:o1:1
# text = Sneezing into hands hurts the fingers
1	Sneezing	sneeze	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	csubj	_	_
2	into	into	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
4	hurts	hurt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sneeze** | gerund |  |  |  | hands |  |  | vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hurt** | present | Sneezing | the fingers |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer finger=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hands touch door handles and people, elbows do not

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:364-the-body-s-rough-side-burps-farts-snot-sneezes-hiccups-and-poo:t5:o2:1
# text = Hands touch door handles and people, elbows do not
1	Hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	touch	touch	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	handles	handle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	elbows	elbow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **touch** | present | Hands | door handles and people |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme handle=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **not** **do** | present | elbows |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Elbows can catch more air and hold the whole sneeze in

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:364-the-body-s-rough-side-burps-farts-snot-sneezes-hiccups-and-poo:t5:o3:1
# text = Elbows can catch more air and hold the whole sneeze in
1	Elbows	elbow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	_
5	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	sneeze	sneeze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | can | Elbows | more air |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent air=Theme |
| 2 | **hold** | infinitive | Elbows *not said here* | the whole sneeze |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sneeze=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It makes the sneeze quieter

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:364-the-body-s-rough-side-burps-farts-snot-sneezes-hiccups-and-poo:t5:o4:1
# text = It makes the sneeze quieter
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sneeze	sneeze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	quieter	quiet	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | It | the sneeze |  |  |  | quiet *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material sneeze=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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