---
title: Real life: could a butterfly's stamp bend a blade of grass? — Just So Stories, The Butterfly that St… · tree and pragmatics
description: Real life: could a butterfly's stamp bend a blade of grass? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 96 «Just So Stories, The Butterfly that Stamped, part 1: a wise king, a hungry Animal and a butterfly's boast» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of
---

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# Test 8 · ★ · Just So Stories, The Butterfly that Stamped, part 1: a wis…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Real life: could a butterfly's stamp bend a blade of grass?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Real life · **What happens:** bend · **To what, where:** stamp

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 96 «Just So Stories, The Butterfly that Stamped, part 1: a wise king, a hungry Animal and a butterfly's boast» 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/96-justso-butterfly-1-the-boast/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:96-justso-butterfly-1-the-boast:t8:1
# text = Real life: could a butterfly's stamp bend a blade of grass?
1	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	butterfly	butterfly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	stamp	stamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
9	bend	bend	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bend** | present | Real life | a butterfly's stamp |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent blade=Material |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No: it weighs under a gram

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:96-justso-butterfly-1-the-boast:t8:o1:1
# text = No: it weighs under a gram
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	weighs	weigh	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	under	under	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	gram	gram	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **weigh** | present | it |  |  | a gram |  |  | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes: a stamp could bend a whole blade of grass and break a twig

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:96-justso-butterfly-1-the-boast:t8:o2:1
# text = Yes: a stamp could bend a whole blade of grass and break a twig
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stamp	stamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	bend	bend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	twig	twig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bend** | could | a stamp | a whole blade of grass |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent blade=Material |
| 2 | **break** | infinitive | a stamp *not said here* | a twig |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer twig=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it could bend a leaf

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:96-justso-butterfly-1-the-boast:t8:o3:1
# text = Yes, it could bend a leaf
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	bend	bend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bend** | could | it | a leaf |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent leaf=Material |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, it would crush a stone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:96-justso-butterfly-1-the-boast:t8:o4:1
# text = Yes, it would crush a stone
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	crush	crush	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crush** | would | it | a stone |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP.instrument V NP»: agent=Instrument stone=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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- ↑ back to [Just So Stories, The Butterfly that Stamped, part 1: a wise king, a hungry Animal and a butterfly's boast](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/96-justso-butterfly-1-the-boast/)