---
title: sus, why can't mermaids cry? — Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part… · tree and pragmatics
description: sus, why can't mermaids cry? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 877 «Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm» of the books 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 8 · ★ · Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid save…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
sus, why can't mermaids cry?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** mermaids · **What happens:** not cry

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 877 «Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm» of the books 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/books/877-pg27200-part88/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t8:1
# text = sus, why can't mermaids cry?
1	sus	sus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
4	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
6	mermaids	mermaid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **cry** *speech: express* | can | mermaids |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=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.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They lack eyes for it

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t8:o1:1
# text = They lack eyes for it
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lack	lack	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lack** | present | They | eyes |  |  |  | for it | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because their eyes are made of sea water and salt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t8:o2:1
# text = Because their eyes are made of sea water and salt
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | their eyes |  |  |  | of sea water and salt | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their eyes are made of salt

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t8:o3:1
# text = Their eyes are made of salt
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present · passive |  | Their eyes |  |  |  | of salt | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They have no tears

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:877-pg27200-part88:t8:o4:1
# text = They have no tears
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | They | no tears |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tear=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: [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part…, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/t7/)
- next →: [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part…, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Fairy Tales, The Little Mermaid, part 88: the mermaid saves the drowning prince from the storm](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/877-pg27200-part88/)