---
title: Why does a peacock feather change colour as you tilt it? — Animal colours: pink flamingos, rare b… · tree and pragmatics
description: Why does a peacock feather change colour as you tilt it? Test 3 · ★ 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 of each option; Mova's c
---

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# Test 3 · ★ · Animal colours: pink flamingos, rare blue animals, white a…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why does a peacock feather change colour as you tilt it?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** peacock feather, you · **What happens:** change, tilt · **To what, where:** colour

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ 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/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t3:1
# text = Why does a peacock feather change colour as you tilt it?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	peacock	peacock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	tilt	tilt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present · do-support | a peacock feather | colour |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=Patient |
| 2 | **tilt** | present | you | colour |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location it=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 has wet paint on it that slides around

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t3:o1:1
# text = It has wet paint on it that slides around
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	paint	paint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	slides	slide	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
9	around	around	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | It | wet paint |  | paint |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paint=Patient |
| 2 | **slide around** | present | wet paint |  |  |  |  | around *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tiny structures scatter light differently at each angle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t3:o2:1
# text = Tiny structures scatter light differently at each angle
1	Tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	structures	structure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	scatter	scatter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	differently	differently	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	angle	angle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scatter** | present | Tiny structures | light |  | each angle |  | differently *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination-Conative»: agent=Agent light=Theme at angle=Destination |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bird is still alive inside the feather

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t3:o3:1
# text = The bird is still alive inside the feather
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Your own eyes change colour as you move your head

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:367-animal-colours-pink-flamingos-rare-blue-animals-white-albinos-and-black-panthers:t3:o4:1
# text = Your own eyes change colour as you move your head
1	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	move	move	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | present | Your own eyes | colour |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=Patient |
| 2 | **move** | present | you | your head |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent head=Theme |

<!-- 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 -->

<!-- pn -->
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