---
title: Why should you never pick up a lizard by its tail? — How animals defend themselves · tree and pragmatics
description: Why should you never pick up a lizard by its tail? Test 6 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 6 · How animals defend themselves

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why should you never pick up a lizard by its tail?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you · **What happens:** not pick up · **To what, where:** lizard

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

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t6:1
# text = Why should you never pick up a lizard by its tail?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	pick	pick	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	lizard	lizard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **pick up** | should | you | a lizard |  |  |  | by lizard's tail | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lizard=Topic |

<!-- .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 -->
It may drop the tail, and growing a new one costs it a lot

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t6:o1:1
# text = It may drop the tail, and growing a new one costs it a lot
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	drop	drop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	csubj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | may | It | the tail |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Theme |
| 2 | **grow** | gerund |  | a new one |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location one=Theme |
| 3 | **cost** | present | growing | tail |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Theme it=Beneficiary lot=Value |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The tail is where its heart is

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t6:o2:1
# text = The tail is where its heart is
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the tail |  |  |  |  | where *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Its tail is poisonous to touch and will burn your hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t6:o3:1
# text = Its tail is poisonous to touch and will burn your hand
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	burn	burn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
10	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Its tail |  |  |  |  | poisonous *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **touch** | to-infinitive | Its tail *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **burn** | future | Its tail *not said here* | your hand |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent hand=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It will turn into a snake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:53-how-animals-defend-themselves:t6:o4:1
# text = It will turn into a snake
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | future | It |  |  |  |  | into a snake *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into snake=Result |

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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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