---
title: Why would a black coat be less useful on the open savanna than in a… — Animal colours: pink flamingos, rare b… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a black coat be less useful on the open savanna than in a dark forest? Test 12 · ★ of lesson 367 «Animal colours: pink flamingos, rare blue animals, white albinos and black panthers» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and
---

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# Test 12 · ★ · Animal colours: pink flamingos, rare blue animals, white a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a black coat be less useful on the open savanna than in a dark forest?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** black coat · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** open savanna

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This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 367 «Animal colours: pink flamingos, rare blue animals, white albinos and black panthers» 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/367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t12:1
# text = Why would a black coat be less useful on the open savanna than in a dark forest?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	coat	coat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
7	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
8	useful	useful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	savanna	savanna	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	than	than	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | a black coat |  |  | the open savanna than a dark forest |  | less, useful *property* | 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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Savanna animals cannot see the colour black

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t12:o1:1
# text = Savanna animals cannot see the colour black
1	Savanna	savanna	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | can | Savanna animals | the colour |  |  |  | black *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer colour=Stimulus |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Black coats melt in the sun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t12:o2:1
# text = Black coats melt in the sun
1	Black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	coats	coat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	melt	melt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **melt** | present | Black coats |  |  | the sun |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On bright, open grassland a black cat would stand out

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t12:o3:1
# text = On bright, open grassland a black cat would stand out
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	grassland	grassland	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	out	out	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand out** | would | a black cat |  |  | bright open grassland |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on grassland=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Black fur cannot keep out the rain on the savanna

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t12:o4:1
# text = Black fur cannot keep out the rain on the savanna
1	Black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	fur	fur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	savanna	savanna	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **keep out** | can | Black fur | the rain |  | the savanna |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent rain=Theme on savanna=Location |

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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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