---
title: What would happen if a nerve from the hand to the spinal cord were c… — The brain and nerves · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a nerve from the hand to the spinal cord were cut? Test 3 · ★★★ 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 wrong.
---

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# Test 3 · ★★★ · The brain and nerves

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a nerve from the hand to the spinal cord were cut?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** happen, cut · **To what, where:** nerve

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★★★ 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/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t3:1
# text = What would happen if a nerve from the hand to the spinal cord were cut?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	nerve	nerve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	spinal	spinal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **cut** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | a nerve from the hand to the spinal cord |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The brain would stop getting touch signals from that hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t3:o1:1
# text = The brain would stop getting touch signals from that hand
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	brain	brain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	touch	touch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	signals	signal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | would | the brain |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **get** | gerund | the brain *not said here* | touch signals |  | that hand |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent signal=Theme from hand=Source |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hand would slowly grow a little brain of its own to make up for it

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t3:o2:1
# text = The hand would slowly grow a little brain of its own to make up for it
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	brain	brain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	of	of	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	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	nmod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
14	up	up	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | the hand | a little brain of hand's own |  |  |  | slowly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location brain=Theme |
| 2 | **make up** | to-infinitive | the hand *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for hand | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hand would feel everything twice as strongly

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t3:o3:1
# text = The hand would feel everything twice as strongly
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	4	obj	_	_
6	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	advmod	_	_
7	as	as	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	strongly	strongly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | would | the hand | everything |  |  |  | strongly, twice *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent everything=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, hands do not need nerves

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:68-the-brain-and-nerves:t3:o4:1
# text = Nothing, hands do not need nerves
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	nerves	nerve	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | present · do-support | Nothing hands | nerves |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot nerve=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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