---
title: Alex says animals only bite cos they're nasty. right? — Thinking like an animal · tree and pragmatics
description: Alex says animals only bite cos they're nasty. right? Test 16 · ★★★ of lesson 30 «Thinking like an animal» 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 16 · ★★★ · Thinking like an animal

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Alex says animals only bite cos they're nasty. right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Alex, animals · **What happens:** say, bite, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is test 16 · ★★★ of lesson 30 «Thinking like an animal» 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/30-thinking-like-an-animal/#t16).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:30-thinking-like-an-animal:t16:1
# text = Alex says animals only bite cos they're nasty. right?
1	Alex	Alex	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	bite	bite	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	cos	cos	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	're	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	nasty	nasty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
11	right	right	INTJ	UH	_	2	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Alex |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **bite** | present | animals |  |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | animals *= animal* |  |  |  |  | nasty *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Yes, only nasty animals bite

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:30-thinking-like-an-animal:t16:o1:1
# text = Yes, only nasty animals bite
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	nasty	nasty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	bite	bite	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bite** | present | nasty animals |  |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, unless they are pets

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:30-thinking-like-an-animal:t16:o2:1
# text = Yes, unless they are pets
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	pets	pet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | they |  |  |  |  | unless pets | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, some animals are just evil and bite people for fun

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:30-thinking-like-an-animal:t16:o3:1
# text = Yes, some animals are just evil and bite people for fun
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	just	just	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	bite	bite	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
10	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | some animals |  |  |  |  | evil *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **bite** | present | some animals *not said here* | people |  |  |  | for fun | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Patient |

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, they usually bite from fear or to protect something

```conllu
# sent_id = question:everyday:30-thinking-like-an-animal:t16:o4:1
# text = No, they usually bite from fear or to protect something
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	bite	bite	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
11	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	10	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bite** | present | they |  |  | fear |  | usually *property* | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **protect** | to-infinitive | they *not said here* | something |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Beneficiary |

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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: [Thinking like an animal, test 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/30-thinking-like-an-animal/t15/)
- next →: [Thinking like an animal, test 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/30-thinking-like-an-animal/t17/)
- ↑ back to [Thinking like an animal](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/30-thinking-like-an-animal/)