---
title: A rattlesnake has 9 rings on its rattle. What can you say about its… — The reptile house: snakes · tree and pragmatics
description: A rattlesnake has 9 rings on its rattle. What can you say about its age? Test 4 · ★ 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 right.
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · The reptile house: snakes

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A rattlesnake has 9 rings on its rattle. What can you say about its age?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** rattlesnake, you · **What happens:** have, rattle, say · **To what, where:** 9 rings, rattle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A rattlesnake has 9 rings on its rattle.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t4:1
# text = A rattlesnake has 9 rings on its rattle.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rattlesnake	rattlesnake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	9	9	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	rings	ring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	rattle	rattle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | a rattlesnake | 9 rings |  | rattlesnake's rattle |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ring=Patient |
| 2 | **rattle** |  | rattlesnake |  |  |  |  |  | nom rattle «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What can you say about its age?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t4:2
# text = What can you say about its age?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | can | you |  |  |  | about rattlesnake's age |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is 9 months old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t4:o1:1
# text = It is 9 months old
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	9	9	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is 90 years old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t4:o2:1
# text = It is 90 years old
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	90	90	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is exactly 9 years old, one ring for each year of its life

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t4:o3:1
# text = It is exactly 9 years old, one ring for each year of its life
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	9	9	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Not much; rings are added at each shed, and some break off

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:87-reptile-house-snakes:t4:o4:1
# text = Not much; rings are added at each shed, and some break off
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	rings	ring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	added	add	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	shed	shed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	nsubj	_	_
13	break	break	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
14	off	off	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | much rings |  | each shed |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **break off** | present | some |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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