---
title: how do i hold the guinea pig, by the ears? — Being gentle with small animals · tree and pragmatics
description: how do i hold the guinea pig, by the ears? Test 10 of lesson 288 «Being gentle with small animals» of the everyday 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 10 · Being gentle with small animals

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
how do i hold the guinea pig, by the ears?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** i · **What happens:** hold · **To what, where:** guinea pig

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 10 of lesson 288 «Being gentle with small animals» of the everyday 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/everyday/288-being-gentle-with-small-animals/#t10).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t10:1
# text = how do i hold the guinea pig, by the ears?
1	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	i	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	guinea	guinea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	pig	pig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | present · do-support | i | the guinea pig |  |  |  | by the ears | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent pig=Theme by ear=Location |

<!-- .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 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, two hands, support its body from under

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t10:o1:1
# text = No, two hands, support its body from under
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	support	support	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	obl	_	_
10	under	under	ADP	IN	_	9	fixed	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **support** | infinitive | two hands | its body |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer body=Stimulus |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hold it tight around the middle so it can't wriggle

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t10:o2:1
# text = Hold it tight around the middle so it can't wriggle
1	Hold	hold	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	tight	tight	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
4	around	around	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	wriggle	wriggle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  | the middle |  | tight *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme around middle=Location |
| 2 | **not** **wriggle** | can | middle |  |  |  |  |  | vn body\_internal\_motion-49.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hold it by the back legs

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t10:o3:1
# text = Hold it by the back legs
1	Hold	hold	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | imperative | you *not said here* | it |  |  |  | by the back legs | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme by leg=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, ears are the safest grip

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:288-being-gentle-with-small-animals:t10:o4:1
# text = Yes, ears are the safest grip
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	safest	safe	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	grip	grip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | ears | the safest grip |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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