---
title: How can something poisonous like venom help save lives? — The reptile house: snakes · tree and pragmatics
description: How can something poisonous like venom help save lives? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 87 «The reptile house: snakes» 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 11 · ★ · The reptile house: snakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How can something poisonous like venom help save lives?

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

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 87 «The reptile house: snakes» 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/87-reptile-house-snakes/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t11:1
# text = How can something poisonous like venom help save lives?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	nsubj	_	_
4	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	venom	venom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
7	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
8	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
9	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | present |  |  |  |  |  | like venom | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **save** | infinitive |  | lives |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It cannot help anybody

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t11:o1:1
# text = It cannot help anybody
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	anybody	anybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **help** | can | It |  | anybody |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anybody=Beneficiary |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Venom cures colds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t11:o2:1
# text = Venom cures colds
1	Venom	venom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	cures	cure	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	colds	cold	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cure** | present | Venom | colds |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer cold=Source |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Antivenom made from it treats bites, and it led to medicines

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t11:o3:1
# text = Antivenom made from it treats bites, and it led to medicines
1	Antivenom	antivenom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	acl	_	_
3	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	treats	treat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	bites	bite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	led	lead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	medicines	medicine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | participle |  | Antivenom *not said here* |  | Antivenom |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: agent=Asset from it=Material |
| 2 | **treat** | present | Antivenom | bites |  |  |  |  | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent bite=Recipient |
| 3 | **lead** | past | Antivenom |  |  |  |  | to medicines | vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition to medicine=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Drinking a little venom each day makes you stronger and braver

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t11:o4:1
# text = Drinking a little venom each day makes you stronger and braver
1	Drinking	drink	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	csubj	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	venom	venom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	xcomp	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	braver	brave	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drink** | gerund |  | a little venom |  |  | day |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent venom=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | present | Drinking | you |  |  |  | strong *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset you=Product |

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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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