---
title: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a sn… — Bites, stings and things you find on t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a snake that appears dead? Exam question 2 of lesson 238 «Bites, stings and things you find on the ground» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova
---

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# Exam question 2 · Bites, stings and things you find on the ground

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a snake that appears dead?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** snake · **What happens:** follow, characteris, appear · **To what, where:** snake

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 2 of lesson 238 «Bites, stings and things you find on the ground» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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/everyday/238-bites-and-things-you-find/#e2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:238-bites-and-things-you-find:e2:1
# text = Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a snake that appears dead?
1	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	statements	statement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
12	appears	appear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
13	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **characteris** | present |  | a snake |  |  |  | of the following statements; accurately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **appear** | present | a snake |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is safe once it stops moving

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:238-bites-and-things-you-find:e2:o1:1
# text = It is safe once it stops moving
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	once	once	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	stops	stop	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	moving	move	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | safe *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stop** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **move** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may be picked up safely by the tail

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:238-bites-and-things-you-find:e2:o2:1
# text = It may be picked up safely by the tail
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	picked	pick	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	safely	safely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick up** | may · passive | the tail | It |  |  |  | safely *property* | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may still bite and is left alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:238-bites-and-things-you-find:e2:o3:1
# text = It may still bite and is left alone
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	still	still	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
8	alone	alone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bite** | may | It |  |  |  | still |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **leave** | present · passive |  |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V» |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It cannot bite and may be handled

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:238-bites-and-things-you-find:e2:o4:1
# text = It cannot bite and may be handled
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	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	handled	handle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **bite** | can | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **handle** | may · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hold-15.1 «NP V NP» |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Bites, stings and things you find on t…, exam 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/238-bites-and-things-you-find/e1/)
- next →: [Bites, stings and things you find on t…, exam 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/238-bites-and-things-you-find/e3/)
- ↑ back to [Bites, stings and things you find on the ground](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/238-bites-and-things-you-find/)