---
title: What would happen if you wiped an ant trail with soapy water? — Pests: mice in the kitchen, cockroache… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if you wiped an ant trail with soapy water? Test 8 of lesson 397 «Pests: mice in the kitchen, cockroaches, clothes moths, fleas and head lice» 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 w
---

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# Test 8 · Pests: mice in the kitchen, cockroaches, clothes moths, fl…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if you wiped an ant trail with soapy water?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** happen, wipe · **To what, where:** ant trail

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This is test 8 of lesson 397 «Pests: mice in the kitchen, cockroaches, clothes moths, fleas and head lice» 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/397-pests-mice-in-the-kitchen-cockroaches-clothes-moths-fleas-and-head-lice/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:397-pests-mice-in-the-kitchen-cockroaches-clothes-moths-fleas-and-head-lice:t8:1
# text = What would happen if you wiped an ant trail with soapy water?
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	wiped	wipe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	ant	ant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	trail	trail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	soapy	soapy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	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 | **wipe** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | you | a ant trail |  |  |  | with soapy water | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent trail=Source |

<!-- .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 -->
The ants would lose the smell trail and get confused

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:397-pests-mice-in-the-kitchen-cockroaches-clothes-moths-fleas-and-head-lice:t8:o1:1
# text = The ants would lose the smell trail and get confused
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	trail	trail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
10	confused	confused	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | would | the ants | the smell trail |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trail=Eventuality |
| 2 | **get** | infinitive | the ants *not said here* |  |  |  |  | confused *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, ants follow sight only

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:397-pests-mice-in-the-kitchen-cockroaches-clothes-moths-fleas-and-head-lice:t8:o2:1
# text = Nothing, ants follow sight only
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	follow	follow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | present | Nothing ants | sight |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sight=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ants would turn into flies

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:397-pests-mice-in-the-kitchen-cockroaches-clothes-moths-fleas-and-head-lice:t8:o3:1
# text = The ants would turn into flies
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	flies	fly	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | the ants |  |  |  |  | into flies *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into fly=Result |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ants would follow it even faster, because they like the soap

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:397-pests-mice-in-the-kitchen-cockroaches-clothes-moths-fleas-and-head-lice:t8:o4:1
# text = The ants would follow it even faster, because they like the soap
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	even	even	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	soap	soap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | would | the ants | it |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **like** | present | ants *= ant* | the soap |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot soap=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.

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