---
title: Why would a doctor worry much more about a broken back than a broken… — The brain and nerves · tree and pragmatics
description: Why would a doctor worry much more about a broken back than a broken arm? Test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 68 «The brain and nerves» 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 11 · ★★★ · The brain and nerves

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why would a doctor worry much more about a broken back than a broken arm?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** doctor · **What happens:** worry, break · **To what, where:** more

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★★★ of lesson 68 «The brain and nerves» 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/68-the-brain-and-nerves/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t11:1
# text = Why would a doctor worry much more about a broken back than a broken arm?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	doctor	doctor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	worry	worry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	obj	_	_
8	about	about	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
11	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	than	than	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	_
15	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **worry** | would | a doctor | more |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus more=Experiencer |
| 2 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
The spinal cord inside the back carries messages to the whole body

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t11:o1:1
# text = The spinal cord inside the back carries messages to the whole body
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	spinal	spinal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	carries	carry	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	messages	message	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry** | present | the spinal cord inside the back | messages |  | the whole body |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent message=Theme to body=Destination |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Backs can never heal once broken

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t11:o2:1
# text = Backs can never heal once broken
1	Backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	heal	heal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	advmod	_	_
6	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **heal** | can | Backs |  |  |  |  | once *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **break** | participle | Backs *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The back is much heavier than the arm, so it is harder to lift

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t11:o3:1
# text = The back is much heavier than the arm, so it is harder to lift
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	lift	lift	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the back |  |  |  |  | than the arm; heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **lift** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The arm has no bones in it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t11:o4:1
# text = The arm has no bones in it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | the arm | no bones |  | it |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=Patient |

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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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- ← previous: [The brain and nerves, test 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/68-the-brain-and-nerves/t10/)
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