---
title: What would happen if you tickled a rat and listened with your ears o… — Surprising brains: tool-using fish, co… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if you tickled a rat and listened with your ears only? Test 6 · ★★ of lesson 388 «Surprising brains: tool-using fish, counting bees, laughing rats and clever pigs» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Test 6 · ★★ · Surprising brains: tool-using fish, counting bees, laughin…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if you tickled a rat and listened with your ears only?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** happen, tickle, listen · **To what, where:** rat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★★ of lesson 388 «Surprising brains: tool-using fish, counting bees, laughing rats and clever pigs» 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/388-surprising-brains-tool-using-fish-counting-bees-laughing-rats-and-clever-pigs/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:388-surprising-brains-tool-using-fish-counting-bees-laughing-rats-and-clever-pigs:t6:1
# text = What would happen if you tickled a rat and listened with your ears only?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	tickled	tickle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
14	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tickle** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | you | a rat |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rat=Experiencer |
| 3 | **listen** | past | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with your ears | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You would probably hear nothing; the chirps are too high

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:388-surprising-brains-tool-using-fish-counting-bees-laughing-rats-and-clever-pigs:t6:o1:1
# text = You would probably hear nothing; the chirps are too high
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	chirps	chirp	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	too	too	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | would | You | nothing |  |  |  | probably *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | present | the chirps |  |  |  |  | high *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You would hear loud laughter from the next room

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:388-surprising-brains-tool-using-fish-counting-bees-laughing-rats-and-clever-pigs:t6:o2:1
# text = You would hear loud laughter from the next room
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	laughter	laughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | would | You | loud laughter |  | the next room |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent laughter=Topic from room=Source |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would bark like a little dog

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:388-surprising-brains-tool-using-fish-counting-bees-laughing-rats-and-clever-pigs:t6:o3:1
# text = It would bark like a little dog
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	bark	bark	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bark** | would | It |  |  |  |  | like a little dog | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would sing a song

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:388-surprising-brains-tool-using-fish-counting-bees-laughing-rats-and-clever-pigs:t6:o4:1
# text = It would sing a song
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | would | It | a song |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |

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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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