---
title: Why might the swallowtail caterpillar change its disguise when it gr… — How animals hide: camouflage and mimicry · tree and pragmatics
description: Why might the swallowtail caterpillar change its disguise when it grows bigger? Test 10 of lesson 51 «How animals hide: camouflage and mimicry» 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 10 · How animals hide: camouflage and mimicry

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why might the swallowtail caterpillar change its disguise when it grows bigger?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** swallowtail caterpillar, caterpillar · **What happens:** change, grow · **To what, where:** disguise

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 51 «How animals hide: camouflage and mimicry» 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/51-how-animals-hide/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t10:1
# text = Why might the swallowtail caterpillar change its disguise when it grows bigger?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	swallowtail	swallowtail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	caterpillar	caterpillar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	disguise	disguise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | might | the swallowtail caterpillar | caterpillar's disguise |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent disguise=Patient |
| 2 | **grow** | present | caterpillar |  |  |  |  | big *property* | 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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A big bird dropping would look odd, so a fake snake face works better

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t10:o1:1
# text = A big bird dropping would look odd, so a fake snake face works better
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	dropping	drop	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	fake	fake	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
12	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
15	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	14	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | gerund | a big bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | would | a big bird |  |  |  |  | odd *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **work** | present | a fake snake face |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It must match the flower it will eat next

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t10:o2:1
# text = It must match the flower it will eat next
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	match	match	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
9	next	next	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **match** | must | It | the flower |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flower=Patient |
| 2 | **eat** | future | flower |  |  |  |  | next *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It gets bored of the old colour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t10:o3:1
# text = It gets bored of the old colour
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	gets	get	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	bored	bore	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bore** | present · passive |  | It |  |  |  | of the old colour | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Big caterpillars no longer have enemies, so they don't need to hide

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t10:o4:1
# text = Big caterpillars no longer have enemies, so they don't need to hide
1	Big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	caterpillars	caterpillar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	no	no	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
5	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	hide	hide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Big caterpillars | enemies |  |  |  | long *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent enemy=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **need** | present · do-support | caterpillars *= caterpillar* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **hide** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | caterpillars *= caterpillar* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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