---
title: What would happen to a bright green caterpillar living on brown bark… — Evolution simply: why living things ch… · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to a bright green caterpillar living on brown bark with many birds around? Test 4 · ★ of lesson 73 «Evolution simply: why living things change over many generations» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each 
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Evolution simply: why living things change over many gener…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to a bright green caterpillar living on brown bark with many birds around?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** bright green caterpillar · **What happens:** happen, live · **To what, where:** brown bark

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 73 «Evolution simply: why living things change over many generations» 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/73-evolution-simply/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t4:1
# text = What would happen to a bright green caterpillar living on brown bark with many birds around?
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	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	caterpillar	caterpillar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	brown	brown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
16	around	around	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to a bright green caterpillar | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **live** | gerund | a bright green caterpillar *not said here* |  |  | brown bark |  | with many birds; around *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with bird=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
Birds would spot it easily, so fewer green ones would survive

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t4:o1:1
# text = Birds would spot it easily, so fewer green ones would survive
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	spot	spot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
8	fewer	few	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	amod	_	_
9	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	survive	survive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spot** | would | Birds | it |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Destination |
| 2 | **survive** | would | fewer green ones |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would turn itself brown in a few minutes on purpose to hide

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t4:o2:1
# text = It would turn itself brown in a few minutes on purpose to hide
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obj	_	_
5	brown	brown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	hide	hide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would | It | itself *= it* |  | purpose | minute | brown *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V ADJ.result»: agent=Theme itself=Result |
| 2 | **hide** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would grow a hard shell to protect itself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t4:o3:1
# text = It would grow a hard shell to protect itself
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
9	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | It | a hard shell |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location shell=Theme |
| 2 | **protect** | to-infinitive |  | shell |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Beneficiary |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Birds never eat caterpillars, so nothing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:73-evolution-simply:t4:o4:1
# text = Birds never eat caterpillars, so nothing
1	Birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	caterpillars	caterpillar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **eat** | present | Birds | caterpillars |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent caterpillar=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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