---
title: What would happen if a mother echidna kept her puggle in the pouch a… — The platypus and the echidna: mammals… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a mother echidna kept her puggle in the pouch after its spines grew? Test 8 of lesson 43 «The platypus and the echidna: mammals that lay eggs» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choic
---

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# Test 8 · The platypus and the echidna: mammals that lay eggs

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a mother echidna kept her puggle in the pouch after its spines grew?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mother echidna, her, spines · **What happens:** happen, keep, puggle, grow · **To what, where:** her, pouch

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 43 «The platypus and the echidna: mammals that lay eggs» 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/43-platypus-and-echidna/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:43-platypus-and-echidna:t8:1
# text = What would happen if a mother echidna kept her puggle in the pouch after its spines grew?
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	7	det	_	_
6	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	echidna	echidna	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
9	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	puggle	puggle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	pouch	pouch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	spines	spine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
17	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	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 | **keep** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a mother echidna | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **puggle** | infinitive | her *= she* *not said here* |  |  | the pouch |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **grow** | past | echidna's spines |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The spines would prick her, so she moves it to a burrow

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:43-platypus-and-echidna:t8:o1:1
# text = The spines would prick her, so she moves it to a burrow
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	spines	spine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	prick	prick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	moves	move	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	burrow	burrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prick** | would | the spines | her *= she* |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Patient |
| 2 | **move** | present | she | it |  | a burrow |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent it=Theme to burrow=Trajectory |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pouch would grow spines too

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:43-platypus-and-echidna:t8:o2:1
# text = The pouch would grow spines too
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pouch	pouch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	spines	spine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | the pouch | spines |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location spine=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The puggle would lay its own egg

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:43-platypus-and-echidna:t8:o3:1
# text = The puggle would lay its own egg
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	puggle	puggle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lay** | would | the puggle | puggle's own egg |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Result |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing at all, because baby spines stay soft forever

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:43-platypus-and-echidna:t8:o4:1
# text = Nothing at all, because baby spines stay soft forever
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	spines	spine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	stay	stay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
10	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | present | Nothing |  |  |  |  | forever, soft *property* | vn exist-47.1 «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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