---
title: How could scientists test whether stripes really keep flies away? — How animals hide: camouflage and mimicry · tree and pragmatics
description: How could scientists test whether stripes really keep flies away? Test 6 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 6 · How animals hide: camouflage and mimicry

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How could scientists test whether stripes really keep flies away?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** scientists, stripes · **What happens:** test, keep away · **To what, where:** flies

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 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/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t6:1
# text = How could scientists test whether stripes really keep flies away?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	scientists	scientist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	test	test	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	stripes	stripe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	really	really	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	keep	keep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	flies	fly	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	away	away	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **test** | could | scientists |  |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **keep away** | present | stripes | flies |  |  |  | away *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fly=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Count the stripes on every zebra

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t6:o1:1
# text = Count the stripes on every zebra
1	Count	count	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	stripes	stripe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	zebra	zebra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | imperative | you *not said here* | the stripes |  |  |  | on every zebra | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stripe=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Paint all the zebras in one herd plain brown and see if they get angry

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t6:o2:1
# text = Paint all the zebras in one herd plain brown and see if they get angry
1	Paint	paint	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	4	det:predet	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	zebras	zebra	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	herd	herd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	plain	plain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	brown	brown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
15	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **paint** | imperative | you *not said here* | all zebras |  | plain brown |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: agent=Agent zebra=Theme in brown=Destination |
| 2 | **see** | present | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **get** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | zebras *= zebra* |  |  |  |  | angry *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ask lions whether stripes confuse them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t6:o3:1
# text = Ask lions whether stripes confuse them
1	Ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
3	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	stripes	stripe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	confuse	confuse	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | imperative | you *not said here* |  | lions |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent lion=Recipient |
| 2 | **confuse** | present | stripes | lions *= lion* |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Put striped coats and plain coats on horses and count fly landings

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:51-how-animals-hide:t6:o4:1
# text = Put striped coats and plain coats on horses and count fly landings
1	Put	put	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	striped	striped	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	coats	coat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	plain	plain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	coats	coat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	count	count	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
11	fly	fly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	landings	landing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | imperative | you *not said here* | striped coats and plain coats |  |  |  | on horses | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent coat=Theme on horse=Destination |
| 2 | **count** | infinitive | you *not said here* | fly landings |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent landing=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.

<!-- /div -->

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