---
title: If an octopus's main heart stops when it swims, why might it prefer… — Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish · tree and pragmatics
description: If an octopus's main heart stops when it swims, why might it prefer to crawl? Test 6 · ★★★ of lesson 39 «Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish» 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 6 · ★★★ · Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If an octopus's main heart stops when it swims, why might it prefer to crawl?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** main heart, heart · **What happens:** stop, swim, prefer, crawl

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★★★ of lesson 39 «Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish» 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/39-octopuses-squid-and-cuttlefish/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:39-octopuses-squid-and-cuttlefish:t6:1
# text = If an octopus's main heart stops when it swims, why might it prefer to crawl?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	octopus	octopus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	main	main	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
8	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	10	mark	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	swims	swim	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
12	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
13	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	prefer	prefer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	crawl	crawl	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | a octopus's main heart |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **swim** | present | heart |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **prefer** | might | heart |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **crawl** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | heart *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
Swimming makes it change colour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:39-octopuses-squid-and-cuttlefish:t6:o1:1
# text = Swimming makes it change colour
1	Swimming	swimming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | Swimming | it |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **change** | infinitive |  | colour |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colour=Patient |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crawling over the rocks is much faster than swimming in open water

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:39-octopuses-squid-and-cuttlefish:t6:o2:1
# text = Crawling over the rocks is much faster than swimming in open water
1	Crawling	crawl	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	csubj	_	_
2	over	over	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
8	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	swimming	swim	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crawl** | gerund |  |  |  | the rocks |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over rock=Trajectory |
| 2 | **is** | present | Crawling |  |  | open water |  | fast, swim *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its arms cannot swim

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:39-octopuses-squid-and-cuttlefish:t6:o3:1
# text = Its arms cannot swim
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	arms	arm	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	swim	swim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **swim** | can | Its arms |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Swimming tires it quickly, so crawling is easier

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:39-octopuses-squid-and-cuttlefish:t6:o4:1
# text = Swimming tires it quickly, so crawling is easier
1	Swimming	swimming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tires	tire	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	crawling	crawling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	easier	easy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tire** | present | Swimming | it |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | present | crawling |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |

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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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