---
title: Is a starfish with six arms a mistake of nature? — Counting animals: legs, arms, wings an… · tree and pragmatics
description: Is a starfish with six arms a mistake of nature? Test 11 of lesson 40 «Counting animals: legs, arms, wings and tails» 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 11 · Counting animals: legs, arms, wings and tails

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Is a starfish with six arms a mistake of nature?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** nature · **What happens:** be, mistake · **To what, where:** starfish

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 of lesson 40 «Counting animals: legs, arms, wings and tails» 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/40-counting-legs-arms-wings-and-tails/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:40-counting-legs-arms-wings-and-tails:t11:1
# text = Is a starfish with six arms a mistake of nature?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	starfish	starfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | a starfish |  |  |  | with six arms | tree rules |
| 2 | **mistake** |  | nature |  |  |  |  |  | nom mistake «act intransitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it is a baby octopus

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:40-counting-legs-arms-wings-and-tails:t11:o1:1
# text = No, it is a baby octopus
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	octopus	octopus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | it | a baby octopus |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, all starfish must have five

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:40-counting-legs-arms-wings-and-tails:t11:o2:1
# text = Yes, all starfish must have five
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	starfish	starfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | must | all starfish | five |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent five=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it is two starfish joined

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:40-counting-legs-arms-wings-and-tails:t11:o3:1
# text = Yes, it is two starfish joined
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	starfish	starfish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	joined	join	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | it | two starfish |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **join** | participle |  | two starfish *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, some kinds have more arms, and a lost arm can regrow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:40-counting-legs-arms-wings-and-tails:t11:o4:1
# text = No, some kinds have more arms, and a lost arm can regrow
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	kinds	kind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
7	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	regrow	regrow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | some kinds | more arms |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Patient |
| 2 | **lose** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **regrow** | can | a lost arm |  |  |  |  |  | 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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