---
title: in the cartoon the porcupine fires its quills like a machine gun. ca… — How animals defend themselves · tree and pragmatics
description: in the cartoon the porcupine fires its quills like a machine gun. can they actually? Test 1 of lesson 53 «How animals defend themselves» 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 1 · How animals defend themselves

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
in the cartoon the porcupine fires its quills like a machine gun. can they actually?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** porcupine · **What happens:** fire · **To what, where:** quills, cartoon

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 1 of lesson 53 «How animals defend themselves» 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/53-how-animals-defend-themselves/#t1).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t1:1
# text = in the cartoon the porcupine fires its quills like a machine gun. can they actually?
1	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	porcupine	porcupine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	fires	fire	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	quills	quill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	machine	machine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	gun	gun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
14	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
16	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fire** | present | the porcupine | porcupine's quills |  | the cartoon |  | like a machine gun | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent quill=Theme in cartoon=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
No, quills just come off easily when touched

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t1:o1:1
# text = No, quills just come off easily when touched
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	quills	quill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
9	touched	touch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come off** | present | quills |  |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **touch** | participle | quills *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only at night

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t1:o2:1
# text = Yes, but only at night
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, porcupines have only soft fur

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t1:o3:1
# text = No, porcupines have only soft fur
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	porcupines	porcupine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	fur	fur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | porcupines | soft fur |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fur=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, up to 10 metres, and they can aim them

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t1:o4:1
# text = Yes, up to 10 metres, and they can aim them
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	11	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	up	up	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	10	10	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	metres	metre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	aim	aim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **aim** | can | metres *= metre* | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot they=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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- ← previous: [How animals hunt, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/52-how-animals-hunt/e4/)
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