---
title: What would happen if a crab never moulted? — The real animals of the Just So Storie… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a crab never moulted? Test 5 · ★★ of lesson 404 «The real animals of the Just So Stories: the whale, camel, rhino, leopard, elephant, kangaroo, armadillo and crab» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each
---

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# Test 5 · ★★ · The real animals of the Just So Stories: the whale, camel,…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a crab never moulted?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **What happens:** happen, not moult · **To what, where:** crab

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 · ★★ of lesson 404 «The real animals of the Just So Stories: the whale, camel, rhino, leopard, elephant, kangaroo, armadillo and crab» 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/404-the-real-animals-of-the-just-so-stories-whale-camel-rhino-leopard-elephant-kangaroo-armadillo-crab/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:404-the-real-animals-of-the-just-so-stories-whale-camel-rhino-leopard-elephant-kangaroo-armadillo-crab:t5:1
# text = What would happen if a crab never moulted?
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	_	8	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	moulted	moult	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	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 | **not** **moult** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle · passive |  | a crab |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It could not grow any bigger

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:404-the-real-animals-of-the-just-so-stories-whale-camel-rhino-leopard-elephant-kangaroo-armadillo-crab:t5:o1:1
# text = It could not grow any bigger
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **grow** | could | It |  |  |  |  | big *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its shell would go soft for ever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:404-the-real-animals-of-the-just-so-stories-whale-camel-rhino-leopard-elephant-kangaroo-armadillo-crab:t5:o2:1
# text = Its shell would go soft for ever
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | would | Its shell |  |  |  |  | soft *property* | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for ever=Beneficiary |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would turn into a lobster

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:404-the-real-animals-of-the-just-so-stories-whale-camel-rhino-leopard-elephant-kangaroo-armadillo-crab:t5:o3:1
# text = It would turn into a lobster
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	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lobster	lobster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | It |  |  | a lobster |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into lobster=Trajectory |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would grow too fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:404-the-real-animals-of-the-just-so-stories-whale-camel-rhino-leopard-elephant-kangaroo-armadillo-crab:t5:o4:1
# text = It would grow too fast
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	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | It |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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 -->

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