---
title: If polar bear fur is not really white, why does it look white to us? — How animals hide: camouflage and mimicry · tree and pragmatics
description: If polar bear fur is not really white, why does it look white to us? Test 3 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 right.
---

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# Test 3 · How animals hide: camouflage and mimicry

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If polar bear fur is not really white, why does it look white to us?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** bear fur, it · **What happens:** not be, look

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This is test 3 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/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t3:1
# text = If polar bear fur is not really white, why does it look white to us?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
2	polar	polar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	fur	fur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	really	really	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
11	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
14	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | bear fur |  |  |  |  | white *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **look** | present · do-support | it |  |  |  |  | white *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ice reflects off it just like a mirror

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t3:o1:1
# text = The ice reflects off it just like a mirror
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reflects	reflect	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	like	like	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reflect** | present | the ice |  |  |  |  | off it; like a mirror | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bear rolls in fresh snow every morning

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t3:o2:1
# text = The bear rolls in fresh snow every morning
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	rolls	roll	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **roll** | present | the bear |  |  | fresh snow | morning |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in snow=Trajectory |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The black skin shines through it as white

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t3:o3:1
# text = The black skin shines through it as white
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	shines	shine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shine** | present | the black skin |  |  | it |  | as white | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through it=Location |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The clear hollow hairs scatter the light

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t3:o4:1
# text = The clear hollow hairs scatter the light
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	hollow	hollow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	hairs	hair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	scatter	scatter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scatter** | present | the clear hollow hairs | the light |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent light=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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